I got to 1200 words on my essay at 9:30 this morning and decided to take a nap. I got up at noon and just threw down the last 800 words in an hour. No proof reading. Bibliography may not have been right. Just don't care. Probably started rambling and bullshitting at the end--don't remember. But it's done and turned in and over so there's no use in thinking about it anymore.
That's kind of been it. Returned my books to the library. One thing I definitely think is cool about Ireland is that people don't ignore each other. You know when there are people in your classes and you've never talked to them but you recognize them places and you both know that you know who each other are. At home you just kind of look at each other and don't say anything. I passed this guy from my tutorial and I was spacing out and didn't even see him, but he goes "what's the craic?" That's just like saying hi. Sometimes you can actually answer, but if you're just walking by "how are ya" is the appropriate responce. No, if someone says "how are ya" to you, it's not a question. Another way of saying hello. They don't actually expect an answer. The first day I was here it was weird because I would answer people "good, how are you?" and they wouldn't answer. But anyway, the point is I think it's polite and makes sense--or at the very least it's less awkward--to acknowledge people you know you know but you don't really know.
Astrophysicists are cool. Colbert is the man. I don't really allot much of my thinking time or space to science. Mostly because it's mostly way over my head. But I have smart and nerdy friends to keep up with. I'm lacking in mechanics and maths, and I'm usually able to hang onto or lean on logic, but some science just doesn't make sense. I don't really have a point here. I watched a video and it gave me chills.
I'm very easily impressed with people who speak well. Or speak passionately. And I'm really impressed by people who can simplify things without being patronizing.
I'm a bit incoherent tonight.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
So hard to do, so easy to say
Ugh today's been a bit of a drag. I have no recollection of the morning, and I've spent most of the afternoon in the heads of Sociologists. There are far better minds out there to dig into. It was nice to actually use the library though. I checked out books. I've only done that once at Central. It's kind nice, kind of not, but you check out books yourself. They have this machine that first you scan your student card and then you scan the book labels and it spits out this "receipt" telling you when it's due back. And then when you return them you just scan the book label again and throw it in a box or something. But since no one checks them, some of these books are in really bad shape. Most of them are written in and pages are torn and they're dog-eared and this one that I have is all taped together.
I don't know if it's really going to happen, but I might get a job painting houses this summer. This girl that was on the Greece trip apparently got a managing job with some company something something whatever and she's training and hiring people to do "exterior residential painting." It's full time, no prior experience required. Sounds brilliant, but it's in Marysville. So we'll see what happens.
I don't know if it's really going to happen, but I might get a job painting houses this summer. This girl that was on the Greece trip apparently got a managing job with some company something something whatever and she's training and hiring people to do "exterior residential painting." It's full time, no prior experience required. Sounds brilliant, but it's in Marysville. So we'll see what happens.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
A sweet refrain drifts in from the past
Alright so. The Ring of Kerry is great. It's interesting because it's mostly bog land. It's where they get peat/turf to burn for heat. And they're always finding "bog people" in the peat. They're kind of creepy because they are just super preserved ancient people. They think they were pagan sacrifices and I don't know what it is about the peat, but they still have skin. We didn't see any of them.
There's a village that has a sort of festival in August where they go into the mountains and bring back a Puck Goat and crown it. It's because back when Cromwell was killing everybody, the goats would come down ahead of this army so the people of the town would know to run away or get ready or whatever. Now it's three days of drinking, but there's a Puck Goat statue on the river in Killorglin village.
I'm almost sure that Yellow Gort is Scotch broom. It's freaking everywhere on that side of the country. Apparently Cromwell planted it all over the place. I don't remember why.
Moonshine is called Poitín. Sounds like Poocheen.
There's a church in Cahersiveen named after Daniel O'Connell. The only Catholic church in the world to ever be named after a layperson. That's what the bus driver said.
The Transatlantic cable went to Portmagee.
Charlie Chaplin used to vacation in Waterville so there's a statue of him there. Bill Clinton and Tiger woods go there to play golf. It's really beautiful. I would have liked to just sit on the beach for a little while and take it all in. Instead I basically had a photo shoot. Ugh.
Aoife knocked on my door about ten minutes ago and she and her friend Hazel were freaking out. They got Louise out of her room too to tell us that there are maggots behind the bins in the kitchen and they aren't cleaning them. They took the bins out so they aren't cleaning them. Then Louise turns around and says "yeah, me and creepy crawly things...can't do it." Taige, the "man of the house," isn't here. Madison, the cleanest one of all us, isn't here. I don't know what happened because I took the bins out before I left for the weekend and that was less than a week ago. But they all just left, and you can't just leave maggots hanging around in your kitchen it's disgusting! So I disposed of them. They made it sound worse than it was--it was bad, but they were screaming and freaking out more than was necessary. Swept them up and threw them out the window.
There's was this guy up on this lookout/hill thing above Smuggler's Bay and he had two lambs and a baby goat. And a little dog. Freaking adorable. And so soft.
There's a place called Black Valley that didn't have electricity until 1971.
The end of the first day was Muckross House which is in Killarney national park. The options were either get back on the bus and be driven back to hostel or walk back. Ed, the guy who runs the international society trips, said that it's an hour and ten minute walk. And it was beautiful outside. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do because I knew that we were going to go back on Sunday. But Darya was all like "I say we get back on the bus. I can tell you're tired." That pissed me off. I really wasn't that tired. I was tired of talking to her. I kind of snapped at her and said I'm not tired. She probably took that as proof that I was tired though--getting touchy. I should have just said peace and walked back. I don't know why I didn't. So yeah, we took the bus back and got dinner at this place that had live music. The stupid thing though was that the music didn't start until 8:30 or 9 and we back in Killarney at 6. She was hungry though so we had to go there right then. We ended up sitting there--I was watching the rugby game and she was texting someone--for two hours and then right when the music starts she's like "we'll leave now shall we?" I was done with her after that.
The next day was Dingle and it's gorgeous. The beaches are amazing. I was so happy that I let my shoes get wet. This one French Chinese guy said I was crazy. Shoes dry, it's not a big deal. I had to pose for more pictures. She's kind of pushy. Sometimes she asked if I wanted pictures somewhere and sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. But some places she was like "okay Lyndsay stand there and smile with the waves and cliffs" or whatever was around. I would be a terrible actress. Most of the pictures are with my angry smile.
The guy who discovered the South Pole is from somewhere on the Dingle Peninsula.
The Gallarus oratory is really cool. It's this little triangular church thing from the 6th century. Most of the churches of temples from then don't have their roofs because they fell down because they are 1300 years old. This one was built so that the walls gradually go into a point and it's all stone. It's still waterproof. You can go inside and it's really weird because you can feel the wind coming through the stone.
Dingle town reminded me of Seabeck a little. There's a marina and the waterfront is kind of all there is to it. It's way bigger than Seabeck though--it's a town rather than a village. I had the greatest fish and chips ever. First we went into this pub that Darya wanted to go to, and I told her before we went in that I was going to go to the fish and chips place afterward because our bus driver told us that is was the best place around and this is a fishing village so I want to eat fish. She didn't care. I had Irish coffee instead of normal coffee because I felt like drinking. It was fine. She asked me if I were okay because I was less talkative today. I'm fine. She started making excuses for me--I'm tired again. No. Then she was like you're used to traveling alone? Yep. Out of habit or do you feel more free. Both. Hint hint.
It was fucking great after that though cause she asked if it was okay if she left me to do other things. Absolutely. Go run around take pictures. That's what she does. I thought that I took a lot of pictures, but no. I don't run around taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures all the time either. Sometimes I do, but not when I'm somewhere I've never been before. You know how they say "feast your eyes"? That's what I like to do in new places--really just chill and take it all in and enjoy it. I feel like Darya samples her eyes. She goes places looking for shots. And then when we get on the bus she sits there flipping through her camera memory and then she's really looking at things. I'd rather see things while I'm there.
Anyway, I got to do what I wanted for one glorious hour. I sat on the pier and at my fish and chips and just listened. I did walk around the town too and I did take pictures, but it wasn't hectic.
I got to walk around Killarney town by myself too. That was really cool. Most of it is on three streets. But the back alleys are cool. Pretty deserted when I was there--Saturday night. The coolest thing though was there was this kind of garage looking building and when I walked by I could hear a band playing inside. The classical kind--trumpets and horns and flutes and all that. It was awesome. I tried to walk back and look inside but there was only one window and this security camera was right on it so I didn't linger very long. It was cool though.
The other awesome thing about Killarney is this bookstore above a convenience store. I was walking by and there were stacks of books in the window so I decided to stop and go in and there were tons of signs on the ceiling saying Used Books Upstairs. So I went upstairs. There was nobody in there. It was almost silent. That great kind of quiet where you can hear your own breathing and that fly freaking out in the lights above you and the spines of the books cracking as you open them and the scraping of fingers across the pages and you turn them, floorboards creaking, wind hitting the window. Fucking awesome. The whole upstairs was filled with rows and rows of shelving and all on the walls were huge tall bookshelves filled with torn up used copies. I found Captain Corelli's Mandolin which I've been looking for for a while. I bought it even though I said I wouldn't buy anymore books. But yeah, that was a perfect half an hour for me.
Sunday was rough. It was the only day that 9:30 came around and Darya didn't tell me I should get up. That was nice, but instead she just made tons of unnecessary noise so I got up anyway. I went downstairs to drink some tea and when she came down she just looked at me and said See you later. Fuck yeah. I should have rented a bike. On the first day she asked me if I were confident on a bike. Yeah I can ride. She said she's not confident. Everyone rented bikes because it's 5 kilometers to Muckross House and then there's Ross castle in the opposite direction which is two kilometers off the main road. I just ended up walking anyway.
First to Ross castle which is pretty cool. The castle itself isn't as cool as Blarney, but to go inside you have to be on a guided tour and that was really interesting. If they had a tour guide for Blarney it'd be grand, but they would never get so many people though it during the tourist seasons. You weren't supposed to take pictures, but the tour guide wasn't really watching us so I did anyway. Not that there was that much to take pictures of anyway. It's totally been restored and there's all kind of furniture in there that isn't even Irish. There's actually only one piece that's Irish. They rebuilt the roof too. The last private owners of the castle burned it down because they didn't want to pay a roofing tax.
It was hot. Felt like summer. I'm a little tan and everything. I finally got down to the Muckross house--I stopped along the lakes a lot and chilled cause it was so beautiful. The House isn't that great. The Abbey is amazing though. I didn't even know it was there until I saw a little sign post saying it was 2k away. I went to the house first and took a few pictures and wasn't enthralled so felt like it was a waste to walk all the way there, but then I got to the Abbey. It was creepy. It's an ancient and still used cemetery first of all. The Abbey itself is from 1445 and most of the walls are still there. No roof, but it's three stories and you can go wherever you want. Tiny spiral staircases--going up one is no problem but you get to the other side and have to go down another one and it's pitch black at the bottom. That freaks me out. Long covered corridors with open doors at the end which lead into pitch black windowless long chambers. Didn't go in there. Hell no. And the whole thing is quiet. There's no one around because it's almost closing time and since it's blindingly sunny it makes the darks darker and creepier. You walk on gravel on the bottom floor or through the cemetery, or stone on the upper floors, so you either here that crunching gravel sound or the lighter, smoother sound that tennis shoes on stone make. And that's it. It's breezy but the trees don't make noise, the birds don't hang out around there, and what else is there? I could have spent more time there but I had to rush through it to make it back into town by the time we were supposed to leave.
I started getting a headache on the ride back. I thought it was just cause I hadn't really eaten anything and I was dehydrated, but we stopped a few times and I got something to eat and it didn't go away. When I got back I basically just crashed. Woke up with the headache and it was a lot worse. And you know what? It didn't go away until I drank three cups of tea. Seriously, legitimately, physically addicted to caffeine.
I think tomorrow night is going to be an all-nighter. I just can't seem to make myself started this damned essay. I need it to be urgent, and it's not yet.
There's a village that has a sort of festival in August where they go into the mountains and bring back a Puck Goat and crown it. It's because back when Cromwell was killing everybody, the goats would come down ahead of this army so the people of the town would know to run away or get ready or whatever. Now it's three days of drinking, but there's a Puck Goat statue on the river in Killorglin village.
I'm almost sure that Yellow Gort is Scotch broom. It's freaking everywhere on that side of the country. Apparently Cromwell planted it all over the place. I don't remember why.
Moonshine is called Poitín. Sounds like Poocheen.
There's a church in Cahersiveen named after Daniel O'Connell. The only Catholic church in the world to ever be named after a layperson. That's what the bus driver said.
The Transatlantic cable went to Portmagee.
Charlie Chaplin used to vacation in Waterville so there's a statue of him there. Bill Clinton and Tiger woods go there to play golf. It's really beautiful. I would have liked to just sit on the beach for a little while and take it all in. Instead I basically had a photo shoot. Ugh.
Aoife knocked on my door about ten minutes ago and she and her friend Hazel were freaking out. They got Louise out of her room too to tell us that there are maggots behind the bins in the kitchen and they aren't cleaning them. They took the bins out so they aren't cleaning them. Then Louise turns around and says "yeah, me and creepy crawly things...can't do it." Taige, the "man of the house," isn't here. Madison, the cleanest one of all us, isn't here. I don't know what happened because I took the bins out before I left for the weekend and that was less than a week ago. But they all just left, and you can't just leave maggots hanging around in your kitchen it's disgusting! So I disposed of them. They made it sound worse than it was--it was bad, but they were screaming and freaking out more than was necessary. Swept them up and threw them out the window.
There's was this guy up on this lookout/hill thing above Smuggler's Bay and he had two lambs and a baby goat. And a little dog. Freaking adorable. And so soft.
There's a place called Black Valley that didn't have electricity until 1971.
The end of the first day was Muckross House which is in Killarney national park. The options were either get back on the bus and be driven back to hostel or walk back. Ed, the guy who runs the international society trips, said that it's an hour and ten minute walk. And it was beautiful outside. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do because I knew that we were going to go back on Sunday. But Darya was all like "I say we get back on the bus. I can tell you're tired." That pissed me off. I really wasn't that tired. I was tired of talking to her. I kind of snapped at her and said I'm not tired. She probably took that as proof that I was tired though--getting touchy. I should have just said peace and walked back. I don't know why I didn't. So yeah, we took the bus back and got dinner at this place that had live music. The stupid thing though was that the music didn't start until 8:30 or 9 and we back in Killarney at 6. She was hungry though so we had to go there right then. We ended up sitting there--I was watching the rugby game and she was texting someone--for two hours and then right when the music starts she's like "we'll leave now shall we?" I was done with her after that.
The next day was Dingle and it's gorgeous. The beaches are amazing. I was so happy that I let my shoes get wet. This one French Chinese guy said I was crazy. Shoes dry, it's not a big deal. I had to pose for more pictures. She's kind of pushy. Sometimes she asked if I wanted pictures somewhere and sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. But some places she was like "okay Lyndsay stand there and smile with the waves and cliffs" or whatever was around. I would be a terrible actress. Most of the pictures are with my angry smile.
The guy who discovered the South Pole is from somewhere on the Dingle Peninsula.
The Gallarus oratory is really cool. It's this little triangular church thing from the 6th century. Most of the churches of temples from then don't have their roofs because they fell down because they are 1300 years old. This one was built so that the walls gradually go into a point and it's all stone. It's still waterproof. You can go inside and it's really weird because you can feel the wind coming through the stone.
Dingle town reminded me of Seabeck a little. There's a marina and the waterfront is kind of all there is to it. It's way bigger than Seabeck though--it's a town rather than a village. I had the greatest fish and chips ever. First we went into this pub that Darya wanted to go to, and I told her before we went in that I was going to go to the fish and chips place afterward because our bus driver told us that is was the best place around and this is a fishing village so I want to eat fish. She didn't care. I had Irish coffee instead of normal coffee because I felt like drinking. It was fine. She asked me if I were okay because I was less talkative today. I'm fine. She started making excuses for me--I'm tired again. No. Then she was like you're used to traveling alone? Yep. Out of habit or do you feel more free. Both. Hint hint.
It was fucking great after that though cause she asked if it was okay if she left me to do other things. Absolutely. Go run around take pictures. That's what she does. I thought that I took a lot of pictures, but no. I don't run around taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures all the time either. Sometimes I do, but not when I'm somewhere I've never been before. You know how they say "feast your eyes"? That's what I like to do in new places--really just chill and take it all in and enjoy it. I feel like Darya samples her eyes. She goes places looking for shots. And then when we get on the bus she sits there flipping through her camera memory and then she's really looking at things. I'd rather see things while I'm there.
Anyway, I got to do what I wanted for one glorious hour. I sat on the pier and at my fish and chips and just listened. I did walk around the town too and I did take pictures, but it wasn't hectic.
I got to walk around Killarney town by myself too. That was really cool. Most of it is on three streets. But the back alleys are cool. Pretty deserted when I was there--Saturday night. The coolest thing though was there was this kind of garage looking building and when I walked by I could hear a band playing inside. The classical kind--trumpets and horns and flutes and all that. It was awesome. I tried to walk back and look inside but there was only one window and this security camera was right on it so I didn't linger very long. It was cool though.
The other awesome thing about Killarney is this bookstore above a convenience store. I was walking by and there were stacks of books in the window so I decided to stop and go in and there were tons of signs on the ceiling saying Used Books Upstairs. So I went upstairs. There was nobody in there. It was almost silent. That great kind of quiet where you can hear your own breathing and that fly freaking out in the lights above you and the spines of the books cracking as you open them and the scraping of fingers across the pages and you turn them, floorboards creaking, wind hitting the window. Fucking awesome. The whole upstairs was filled with rows and rows of shelving and all on the walls were huge tall bookshelves filled with torn up used copies. I found Captain Corelli's Mandolin which I've been looking for for a while. I bought it even though I said I wouldn't buy anymore books. But yeah, that was a perfect half an hour for me.
Sunday was rough. It was the only day that 9:30 came around and Darya didn't tell me I should get up. That was nice, but instead she just made tons of unnecessary noise so I got up anyway. I went downstairs to drink some tea and when she came down she just looked at me and said See you later. Fuck yeah. I should have rented a bike. On the first day she asked me if I were confident on a bike. Yeah I can ride. She said she's not confident. Everyone rented bikes because it's 5 kilometers to Muckross House and then there's Ross castle in the opposite direction which is two kilometers off the main road. I just ended up walking anyway.
First to Ross castle which is pretty cool. The castle itself isn't as cool as Blarney, but to go inside you have to be on a guided tour and that was really interesting. If they had a tour guide for Blarney it'd be grand, but they would never get so many people though it during the tourist seasons. You weren't supposed to take pictures, but the tour guide wasn't really watching us so I did anyway. Not that there was that much to take pictures of anyway. It's totally been restored and there's all kind of furniture in there that isn't even Irish. There's actually only one piece that's Irish. They rebuilt the roof too. The last private owners of the castle burned it down because they didn't want to pay a roofing tax.
It was hot. Felt like summer. I'm a little tan and everything. I finally got down to the Muckross house--I stopped along the lakes a lot and chilled cause it was so beautiful. The House isn't that great. The Abbey is amazing though. I didn't even know it was there until I saw a little sign post saying it was 2k away. I went to the house first and took a few pictures and wasn't enthralled so felt like it was a waste to walk all the way there, but then I got to the Abbey. It was creepy. It's an ancient and still used cemetery first of all. The Abbey itself is from 1445 and most of the walls are still there. No roof, but it's three stories and you can go wherever you want. Tiny spiral staircases--going up one is no problem but you get to the other side and have to go down another one and it's pitch black at the bottom. That freaks me out. Long covered corridors with open doors at the end which lead into pitch black windowless long chambers. Didn't go in there. Hell no. And the whole thing is quiet. There's no one around because it's almost closing time and since it's blindingly sunny it makes the darks darker and creepier. You walk on gravel on the bottom floor or through the cemetery, or stone on the upper floors, so you either here that crunching gravel sound or the lighter, smoother sound that tennis shoes on stone make. And that's it. It's breezy but the trees don't make noise, the birds don't hang out around there, and what else is there? I could have spent more time there but I had to rush through it to make it back into town by the time we were supposed to leave.
I started getting a headache on the ride back. I thought it was just cause I hadn't really eaten anything and I was dehydrated, but we stopped a few times and I got something to eat and it didn't go away. When I got back I basically just crashed. Woke up with the headache and it was a lot worse. And you know what? It didn't go away until I drank three cups of tea. Seriously, legitimately, physically addicted to caffeine.
I think tomorrow night is going to be an all-nighter. I just can't seem to make myself started this damned essay. I need it to be urgent, and it's not yet.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Second Wind
Had it, now it's gone. This week's going to be a bit crazy.
Walked somewhere around 15 kilometers yesterday. If it weren't so damned hot it wouldn't have been bad. It was actually super sunny and probably only like 65 degrees, but that's ten higher than normal, so it felt hot. Didn't really want to come back to the dreary old east side, but it as lovely here too today. Definitely spring.
Walked somewhere around 15 kilometers yesterday. If it weren't so damned hot it wouldn't have been bad. It was actually super sunny and probably only like 65 degrees, but that's ten higher than normal, so it felt hot. Didn't really want to come back to the dreary old east side, but it as lovely here too today. Definitely spring.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Dingle
is brilliant. I think Dingle town is my new favorite place in Ireland. It's perfect--on the ocean and every place sells fish and chips and there's a marina and mountains all around you and it's super breezy and just perfect.
My mellow is still being harshed, but she asked me if she could leave me for a while today and I said yes and caught myself before saying please. It was the best time I've had so far. I got fish and chips to go--she didn't want to go to the place the bus driver pointed out as having the best traditional fish in town, so I had to go by myself--and sat on the pier and just soaked it all in.
Tomorrow we're going to the Killarney national park and Muckross house. It takes a little over an hour to walk there and that's perfectly fine, but I don't know what we're going to talk about. Hopefully nothing. I'm mean. I can't help it. I don't know what my problem is.
When I get back tomorrow I have to start an essay. It's going to be terrible.
My mellow is still being harshed, but she asked me if she could leave me for a while today and I said yes and caught myself before saying please. It was the best time I've had so far. I got fish and chips to go--she didn't want to go to the place the bus driver pointed out as having the best traditional fish in town, so I had to go by myself--and sat on the pier and just soaked it all in.
Tomorrow we're going to the Killarney national park and Muckross house. It takes a little over an hour to walk there and that's perfectly fine, but I don't know what we're going to talk about. Hopefully nothing. I'm mean. I can't help it. I don't know what my problem is.
When I get back tomorrow I have to start an essay. It's going to be terrible.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ring of Kerry
is beautiful. And I'll give the full report, but for now I just want to say that this girl is driving me freaking crazy. I think some people really just need to be acknowledged and I don't have the patience. I'm trying to be nice, but mostly I'm just running away from her.
Tomorrow is Dingle.
Tomorrow is Dingle.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Travel
It took 5 hours to get here from Maynooth, but it didn't seem to take that long. You know, Ireland is really beautiful--with the green and the farms and the people and the water and the hills and all that, but it's also really sad and run down. All the houses in the midlands don't look like homes. They're kind of either imposing or just blank looking. Not much variety in housing, not that you really need it, but it makes it more dreary.
There was a serious mist covering this place early.
Tomorrow is either the Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula. We're playing it by ear depending on the weather. I don't know which one gets good weather priority, but we'll see. Either way it'll be grand--they're supposed to be the most beautiful places in the country.
There was a serious mist covering this place early.
Tomorrow is either the Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula. We're playing it by ear depending on the weather. I don't know which one gets good weather priority, but we'll see. Either way it'll be grand--they're supposed to be the most beautiful places in the country.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Not much
It's kind of nice having the place to myself. For a few days anyway.
I'll have to take the garbage out tomorrow.
And go to the library to start some research. I feel like I should actually put some effort into this Soc essay. This class counts.
I'll have to take the garbage out tomorrow.
And go to the library to start some research. I feel like I should actually put some effort into this Soc essay. This class counts.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Something completely different
Steak and eggs for breakfast. It was lovely.
Watched TV for like four hours straight. Haven't done that in months. Mental is a good show I reckon.
Tony's been hanging out in the kitchen/living room for the last few nights while Louis stays in her room doing whatever. I think it's interesting.
I was thinking about what I'll miss from here when I go home. At the top of the short list is having my own bathroom. No 2. is being able to sit around and drink hot beverages all day. The rest are things like sunsets and having tax included in the printed prices and scones and double-decker buses and egg shells and church bells.
--the rest is silence.
Now cracks a noble heart
If only. If only he were noble.
Watched TV for like four hours straight. Haven't done that in months. Mental is a good show I reckon.
Tony's been hanging out in the kitchen/living room for the last few nights while Louis stays in her room doing whatever. I think it's interesting.
I was thinking about what I'll miss from here when I go home. At the top of the short list is having my own bathroom. No 2. is being able to sit around and drink hot beverages all day. The rest are things like sunsets and having tax included in the printed prices and scones and double-decker buses and egg shells and church bells.
--the rest is silence.
Now cracks a noble heart
If only. If only he were noble.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
What's the craic
It was quite hard to take any decent pictures. Backs of heads all over the place.
First off, I didn't know there was a Maynooth parade as well. And it runs from the river down to main street and off to Tesco. That means it's in the way of the two bus stops in town. So, I took the train. And the train is awesome. If Connolly station wasn't in the middle of fucking nowhere Dublin, I'd be happy to take it all the time even though it is about 50 cents more expensive. I think I could get at student rate though. I felt rushed so I didn't ask.
I didn't know exactly where Connolly station was when I got on the train, and I thought I was going to Pearse station anyway because that's what my ticket said. I just asked for one into Dublin and that's what she gave me. But anyways, I get out of the station and have no idea where to do. You can't see the spire or the factory or the docklands and certainly not the river. I just started walking and picked the wrong way of course. It wasn't that bad though. I only went a few blocks before I started seeing signs for Croke Park (the proud, most famous pitch in Ireland) and realising I was off course.
I was meanderin my way through the narrow streets and got into step with this man carrying a ladder. Ahead of him was this kid whose face was entirely painted green and this older kid telling him to stop following him, so I figured they were brothers. I didn't even think to question why this guy was carrying a ladder 'cause older men carrying ladders are more common than you would think here.
I pretty much just stumbled out onto O'Connell street, and even then didn't really recognise it until I saw the spire, and I was so turned around by the masses I thought I was on the other side of it. They completely close off one side of the road and put up bleachers and fences on one side of the middle walkway with all the statues and the spire and some benches. That's what the ladders are for. They set them up either to climb on things like lamp posts, bus stop structures, statues, and street signs, or to just stand on them themselves to see over people. The open side of O'Connell was packed with people too--tourists arguing about where they should go because there's no way they'll see anything here, men selling Irish flags and whistles for 2 quid each, a huge line out the door of McDonald's, tons and tons of drunk lads screaming at everyone.
The parade route went down O'Connell over the bridge to Westmoreland street which is where the bus to Maynooth picks up and my favorite "modern" pub is. It's another one of the broad streets so half of it was unused. The fences turned the corner onto College Green street with Trinity college on the left and some government buildings on the right--about five lads all sharing one street lamp to hang off of. Still too packed to see anything all. Keeps going onto Dame street. All the way down Dame street past Temple Bar district, past Dublin castle, past the Olympia Theatre, and then right in front of the only Mexican restaurant in town, some space to breath. Getting there was typical. People smashed together like a concert pit and only one single-file stream of people going in and out and there's always that bitch prodding you in the back like you're not trying your damndest to escape the claustrophobia as well. There was one woman that was really pissing me off. The mothers with strollers going through clipping your heels were one thing, but this bitch kept her hand on the small of my back the whole way. I pushed her off a few times but it was like when you're with someone and trying not to loose them so you grab onto their hood or hold their hand or something. Well, I don't know, quit touching me.
The parade itself was pretty cool. It's been a long time since I've been on the footpath side of a parade. I thought it was longer though. They got started an hour late (not surprised in the least) and it was around and hour and a half long. Mostly marching bands. It was really crazy to me because I'd played a lot of the songs--Thriller, National Emblem, this one I really can't remember the name but it's been bothering me ever since. The floats were weird. I didn't understand any of them. I don't know if you're supposed to though, or if they are just supposed to be a spectacle. Oh yeah the first thing to go by was a group of bagpipes. I thought that was weird. Bagpipes are so Scottish. I thought there was going to be more "traditional Irish" stuff like dancing and accordions but it was all pretty modern. I guess that makes sense too though since it's televised internationally and all that.
The coolest part was right after the parade. The end of Dame street is up on this little hill, so from where I was right when you walk out into the street you can see all the way down to the corner of College Green street and it was just flooded with people. Green hats and face paint and Irish flags. It was cool. I walked past The Temple Bar to see how crazy it would be and crazy it was indeed. The narrow streets were just as intense as the broad ones.
Grafton street didn't seem any worse than normal--it's always been the busiest street when I've been to town. There were a few old men holding up signs and all they said was "Jesus". I guess they were going with simplicity to get people's attention. Lots of drunk singing/chanting down there though.
St. Stephen's green was a trip. The Garda were checking bags at the entrance and I walked around to the other, less hectic entrance and on the way there were two ambulances on the footpath. I didn't see any people though and there was no Garda around and it was pretty calm so I just kept walking and didn't think more of it until a little ways down there was this puddle of blood under the park fence. That threw me off a bit. I'd never really seen something like that.
Inside the park were all the tourists and children being stupid. Okay they weren't all being stupid, just a few. The park is really pretty though. I hung out there for a while and wrote a bit until these kids came up and got in my space and I left. I couldn't help thinking that in a few years I may have to spend every day with junior high kids. Could be awful.
So I think everyone knows by now I'm not the biggest of partiers. I ended up back to Maynooth on the early side after two pints and called it good. It took forever to get back to the train station too. People at the stations in Dublin are much nicer than people with equivalent jobs in the states or anywhere else I've been. I must have looked lost cause this man asked me where I was headed. I was on the wrong platform and he set me straight, but he didn't tell me like I was stupid or like I was putting him out or something. I appreciate polite people.
The only thing mentionable about today was that I was craving pizza the entire day. So I went and got some for dinner. The end.
First off, I didn't know there was a Maynooth parade as well. And it runs from the river down to main street and off to Tesco. That means it's in the way of the two bus stops in town. So, I took the train. And the train is awesome. If Connolly station wasn't in the middle of fucking nowhere Dublin, I'd be happy to take it all the time even though it is about 50 cents more expensive. I think I could get at student rate though. I felt rushed so I didn't ask.
I didn't know exactly where Connolly station was when I got on the train, and I thought I was going to Pearse station anyway because that's what my ticket said. I just asked for one into Dublin and that's what she gave me. But anyways, I get out of the station and have no idea where to do. You can't see the spire or the factory or the docklands and certainly not the river. I just started walking and picked the wrong way of course. It wasn't that bad though. I only went a few blocks before I started seeing signs for Croke Park (the proud, most famous pitch in Ireland) and realising I was off course.
I was meanderin my way through the narrow streets and got into step with this man carrying a ladder. Ahead of him was this kid whose face was entirely painted green and this older kid telling him to stop following him, so I figured they were brothers. I didn't even think to question why this guy was carrying a ladder 'cause older men carrying ladders are more common than you would think here.
I pretty much just stumbled out onto O'Connell street, and even then didn't really recognise it until I saw the spire, and I was so turned around by the masses I thought I was on the other side of it. They completely close off one side of the road and put up bleachers and fences on one side of the middle walkway with all the statues and the spire and some benches. That's what the ladders are for. They set them up either to climb on things like lamp posts, bus stop structures, statues, and street signs, or to just stand on them themselves to see over people. The open side of O'Connell was packed with people too--tourists arguing about where they should go because there's no way they'll see anything here, men selling Irish flags and whistles for 2 quid each, a huge line out the door of McDonald's, tons and tons of drunk lads screaming at everyone.
The parade route went down O'Connell over the bridge to Westmoreland street which is where the bus to Maynooth picks up and my favorite "modern" pub is. It's another one of the broad streets so half of it was unused. The fences turned the corner onto College Green street with Trinity college on the left and some government buildings on the right--about five lads all sharing one street lamp to hang off of. Still too packed to see anything all. Keeps going onto Dame street. All the way down Dame street past Temple Bar district, past Dublin castle, past the Olympia Theatre, and then right in front of the only Mexican restaurant in town, some space to breath. Getting there was typical. People smashed together like a concert pit and only one single-file stream of people going in and out and there's always that bitch prodding you in the back like you're not trying your damndest to escape the claustrophobia as well. There was one woman that was really pissing me off. The mothers with strollers going through clipping your heels were one thing, but this bitch kept her hand on the small of my back the whole way. I pushed her off a few times but it was like when you're with someone and trying not to loose them so you grab onto their hood or hold their hand or something. Well, I don't know, quit touching me.
The parade itself was pretty cool. It's been a long time since I've been on the footpath side of a parade. I thought it was longer though. They got started an hour late (not surprised in the least) and it was around and hour and a half long. Mostly marching bands. It was really crazy to me because I'd played a lot of the songs--Thriller, National Emblem, this one I really can't remember the name but it's been bothering me ever since. The floats were weird. I didn't understand any of them. I don't know if you're supposed to though, or if they are just supposed to be a spectacle. Oh yeah the first thing to go by was a group of bagpipes. I thought that was weird. Bagpipes are so Scottish. I thought there was going to be more "traditional Irish" stuff like dancing and accordions but it was all pretty modern. I guess that makes sense too though since it's televised internationally and all that.
The coolest part was right after the parade. The end of Dame street is up on this little hill, so from where I was right when you walk out into the street you can see all the way down to the corner of College Green street and it was just flooded with people. Green hats and face paint and Irish flags. It was cool. I walked past The Temple Bar to see how crazy it would be and crazy it was indeed. The narrow streets were just as intense as the broad ones.
Grafton street didn't seem any worse than normal--it's always been the busiest street when I've been to town. There were a few old men holding up signs and all they said was "Jesus". I guess they were going with simplicity to get people's attention. Lots of drunk singing/chanting down there though.
St. Stephen's green was a trip. The Garda were checking bags at the entrance and I walked around to the other, less hectic entrance and on the way there were two ambulances on the footpath. I didn't see any people though and there was no Garda around and it was pretty calm so I just kept walking and didn't think more of it until a little ways down there was this puddle of blood under the park fence. That threw me off a bit. I'd never really seen something like that.
Inside the park were all the tourists and children being stupid. Okay they weren't all being stupid, just a few. The park is really pretty though. I hung out there for a while and wrote a bit until these kids came up and got in my space and I left. I couldn't help thinking that in a few years I may have to spend every day with junior high kids. Could be awful.
So I think everyone knows by now I'm not the biggest of partiers. I ended up back to Maynooth on the early side after two pints and called it good. It took forever to get back to the train station too. People at the stations in Dublin are much nicer than people with equivalent jobs in the states or anywhere else I've been. I must have looked lost cause this man asked me where I was headed. I was on the wrong platform and he set me straight, but he didn't tell me like I was stupid or like I was putting him out or something. I appreciate polite people.
The only thing mentionable about today was that I was craving pizza the entire day. So I went and got some for dinner. The end.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Amárach
That's "tomorrow" in Irish. Tomorrow is the big day. Saint Paddy's day. It's going to be intense. We got an email saying to get into town early to get a spot for the parade and don't panic when the buses are all even later than usual and don't drink so much you black out and wake up on a bench in St. Stephen's Green. There are going to be SO many people. I'm looking forward to it, even though I'm a little nervous.
Today was fine. Artsy and calm. Madison felt the need to tell Louise and I that she was going to France and Scotland over break. She'd already told me twice before. Your parents are rich. We get it. Shove off.
It was a top ramen sort of dinner night. Felt supremely lazy. I put too much shit in it though so it wasn't very good.
There's this 2nd semester American guy I see all the time. He's in Trad class and always around Logic house which is where all the music classes are. I think he must be a singer because every time I see him he's talking--mostly bullshitting--with someone. And it's always different people so I guess he's friendly, but he's so pretentious and says the weirdest, stupidest things. It's just like, c'mon man, you're making us all look bad.
Today was fine. Artsy and calm. Madison felt the need to tell Louise and I that she was going to France and Scotland over break. She'd already told me twice before. Your parents are rich. We get it. Shove off.
It was a top ramen sort of dinner night. Felt supremely lazy. I put too much shit in it though so it wasn't very good.
There's this 2nd semester American guy I see all the time. He's in Trad class and always around Logic house which is where all the music classes are. I think he must be a singer because every time I see him he's talking--mostly bullshitting--with someone. And it's always different people so I guess he's friendly, but he's so pretentious and says the weirdest, stupidest things. It's just like, c'mon man, you're making us all look bad.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
I will not hear what you have to say
Beware the Ides of March
Printing mission was successful. The library sucks. I went there thinking it would be ideal--lots of printers, lots of computers, the machine that gives you a printing card, and hundreds of thousands of books. But no, it's a fucking joke. One computer available, and I don't know if it was just that computer or what, but it wouldn't open the file I had sent to myself that had the cover sheet I needed to turn in my homework. Balls. So then I had to go back to the PAC in north campus and all was fine. I had the card thing upside down though. I tried it both ways and it didn't work so I was all kinds of frustrated. There is supposed to be a kind of monitor in there, but she was gone, so I asked this guy who was waiting in line for a computer to open up. He was very nice, and very cute, so I don't count it as defeat.
I watched some TV, took another nap--this time out of sheer boredom, made a lovely dinner, and now Aoife is playing Usher.
I am conflicted.
Printing mission was successful. The library sucks. I went there thinking it would be ideal--lots of printers, lots of computers, the machine that gives you a printing card, and hundreds of thousands of books. But no, it's a fucking joke. One computer available, and I don't know if it was just that computer or what, but it wouldn't open the file I had sent to myself that had the cover sheet I needed to turn in my homework. Balls. So then I had to go back to the PAC in north campus and all was fine. I had the card thing upside down though. I tried it both ways and it didn't work so I was all kinds of frustrated. There is supposed to be a kind of monitor in there, but she was gone, so I asked this guy who was waiting in line for a computer to open up. He was very nice, and very cute, so I don't count it as defeat.
I watched some TV, took another nap--this time out of sheer boredom, made a lovely dinner, and now Aoife is playing Usher.
I am conflicted.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Junk
If it weren't for facebook I totally would have forgotten about pi day. I don't think that's a bad thing.
Went to class, wrote some contrapuntal lines, went to the store, ate some leftovers, painted some colors, watched shit on youtube for about three hours, and now I'm going to sleep.
I have to figure out the printers tomorrow morning. I have to pay 5Euro for a printing card which will have 1 quid of credit on it. Getting the card is grand, but I don't know the printing procedure--when do I use the card? Before or after I push print on the computer? And I can't ask anybody because I don't like admitting defeat, but I figure if Aoife can do it I should be okay.
Went to class, wrote some contrapuntal lines, went to the store, ate some leftovers, painted some colors, watched shit on youtube for about three hours, and now I'm going to sleep.
I have to figure out the printers tomorrow morning. I have to pay 5Euro for a printing card which will have 1 quid of credit on it. Getting the card is grand, but I don't know the printing procedure--when do I use the card? Before or after I push print on the computer? And I can't ask anybody because I don't like admitting defeat, but I figure if Aoife can do it I should be okay.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
You cannot put your foot in the same river twice
Uneventful day.
Roman Lit is all about sex poems right now. It's only interesting because there was no such thing as homosexuality in the ancient world. Our teacher was talking about the word homosexual itself and how it was invented (in 1890-something) to be a mix of Greek (homo) and Latin (sexual) in order to sound legitimate when in reality it is totally illegitimate. There was nothing wrong with being gay--as long as it was with a younger boy. The poems themselves are all pretty crude though and it's entertaining to hear our posh Englishman teacher read and explain them so seriously.
Trad is getting a bit hard to follow. We have an essay, a listening exam, and the final exam. The essay titles are very hard. I have no idea which one I'm going to do yet or where to start on any of them. It's hard because this is the specific subject our teacher did his PHD on--the rise/emergence of Traditional Irish music. I think he's expecting a lot. His lectures are getting a little unfocused too and it's hard to tell what's important to know for the final exam because I think he just genuinely enjoys talking about the subject and he tangents freely.
Sociology was entertaining. We had to this excerpt from a larger work by a journalist who went undercover as a low wage worker a few weeks ago. And today in lecture we watched 10 minutes of a "musical documentary" (the first and last made apparently) which featured the journalist. It was really weird. The lecture itself apart from the video was a lot of graphs and statistics about poverty and Ireland and how around the world having a job doesn't necessarily mean you are above the poverty threshold.
Okay one thing about the Irish accent that drives me crazy is that they don't always pronounce "th" the same way. "That" and "they" and "them" and "there" are all the same. Three is tree. Threshold is tresh-old. It's jarring whenever I hear new ones. I've gotten used to "tree," and "tanks," and "footpat" for footpath which is a sidewalk. But threshold was a surprise today.
The thing about the lecture was that it seemed out of sequence or something. All the lectures until today were about theories--Role-Learning, Functionalism, Goffman, Marx, Weber, whoever--and then today she spent about twenty seconds saying how you could apply different theories to the issue of unskilled labor and poverty. It's just kind of hard to know what's important to remember.
I actually enjoyed Athens lecture tonight. It was about pre-Socratic philosophy, and the teacher had a lot to get through so he didn't have as much time to stop and preach at us. The philosophers were getting into it after they stopped believing in the Olympian Gods. So once they dismissed the gods they had to figure out what rules the universe--some said water, a bunch said air, one guy said fire. Nobody mentioned today said Earth--I found that curious. The cool ones though were the guys all into paradoxes. Parmenides said there is nothing buy being and non being. If something exists it doesn't not exist and anything that doesn't exist cannot come into being. And nothing changes. He's the guy that said if something occupies it's own space it's not moving. So an arrow shot from a bow is occupying it's own space in time, so it's not moving. False. He's also the guy that said if two people are racing and one guy gets a head-start, the guy that goes first will always win no matter how fast the second guy is. That's because the first guy gets to a certain point right? But by the time the second guy gets to that same point, the first one has already moved on, and so on and so on forever and ever. False. It's interesting because all Parmenides' other philosopher buddies knew he was full of shit, but they couldn't disprove. Nobody disproved him until Aristotle 300 years later. I think that is so cool.
The other cool guys are the ones that thought up the atom. Everything being made up of something too small to see--the smallest thing imaginable, so small it can't be split. Too bad the bloody scientists know how to split atoms now.
I took a successful 45 minute nap in the middle of the day. I've been really tired the last few days.
Ran into Darya in the post room. Said hi. She signed up for the Killarney weekend trip too. Grand. Expect lots of corny pictures.
Roman Lit is all about sex poems right now. It's only interesting because there was no such thing as homosexuality in the ancient world. Our teacher was talking about the word homosexual itself and how it was invented (in 1890-something) to be a mix of Greek (homo) and Latin (sexual) in order to sound legitimate when in reality it is totally illegitimate. There was nothing wrong with being gay--as long as it was with a younger boy. The poems themselves are all pretty crude though and it's entertaining to hear our posh Englishman teacher read and explain them so seriously.
Trad is getting a bit hard to follow. We have an essay, a listening exam, and the final exam. The essay titles are very hard. I have no idea which one I'm going to do yet or where to start on any of them. It's hard because this is the specific subject our teacher did his PHD on--the rise/emergence of Traditional Irish music. I think he's expecting a lot. His lectures are getting a little unfocused too and it's hard to tell what's important to know for the final exam because I think he just genuinely enjoys talking about the subject and he tangents freely.
Sociology was entertaining. We had to this excerpt from a larger work by a journalist who went undercover as a low wage worker a few weeks ago. And today in lecture we watched 10 minutes of a "musical documentary" (the first and last made apparently) which featured the journalist. It was really weird. The lecture itself apart from the video was a lot of graphs and statistics about poverty and Ireland and how around the world having a job doesn't necessarily mean you are above the poverty threshold.
Okay one thing about the Irish accent that drives me crazy is that they don't always pronounce "th" the same way. "That" and "they" and "them" and "there" are all the same. Three is tree. Threshold is tresh-old. It's jarring whenever I hear new ones. I've gotten used to "tree," and "tanks," and "footpat" for footpath which is a sidewalk. But threshold was a surprise today.
The thing about the lecture was that it seemed out of sequence or something. All the lectures until today were about theories--Role-Learning, Functionalism, Goffman, Marx, Weber, whoever--and then today she spent about twenty seconds saying how you could apply different theories to the issue of unskilled labor and poverty. It's just kind of hard to know what's important to remember.
I actually enjoyed Athens lecture tonight. It was about pre-Socratic philosophy, and the teacher had a lot to get through so he didn't have as much time to stop and preach at us. The philosophers were getting into it after they stopped believing in the Olympian Gods. So once they dismissed the gods they had to figure out what rules the universe--some said water, a bunch said air, one guy said fire. Nobody mentioned today said Earth--I found that curious. The cool ones though were the guys all into paradoxes. Parmenides said there is nothing buy being and non being. If something exists it doesn't not exist and anything that doesn't exist cannot come into being. And nothing changes. He's the guy that said if something occupies it's own space it's not moving. So an arrow shot from a bow is occupying it's own space in time, so it's not moving. False. He's also the guy that said if two people are racing and one guy gets a head-start, the guy that goes first will always win no matter how fast the second guy is. That's because the first guy gets to a certain point right? But by the time the second guy gets to that same point, the first one has already moved on, and so on and so on forever and ever. False. It's interesting because all Parmenides' other philosopher buddies knew he was full of shit, but they couldn't disprove. Nobody disproved him until Aristotle 300 years later. I think that is so cool.
The other cool guys are the ones that thought up the atom. Everything being made up of something too small to see--the smallest thing imaginable, so small it can't be split. Too bad the bloody scientists know how to split atoms now.
I took a successful 45 minute nap in the middle of the day. I've been really tired the last few days.
Ran into Darya in the post room. Said hi. She signed up for the Killarney weekend trip too. Grand. Expect lots of corny pictures.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Limb from limb
I was so tired today I took a nap. More like a doze actually. What was meant to be half an hour--forty five minutes at the most--was two and a half hours. I knew it would happen.
Sociology tutorial today was about writing essays. Approaches, brainstorming, readings, referencing, and what to cover one each of the prompts. It was kind of weird being walked through it so much. It is a first year class though I guess. We had to split into groups depending on the essay we planned on writing and I was only one in the class that chose mine. This other guy that hadn't decided yet joined me just so that we could actually do the activity. Apparently my prompt is the hardest one according to the teacher. Grand. It seemed like the most interesting one.
I should start studying. Not this minute, but if I don't it's going to be a shitty exam month. I don't think I retain information as well I did in high school. And I didn't even retain all that much then either. Calc is all gone now. So is the miniscule bit of Chemistry. pv=nrt is all I've got. Anyway, yes. Going back over notes periodically would be extremely helpful I'm sure.
Oh yeah I signed up and paid for the Killarney trip in two weeks. Lookin forward to it.
Sociology tutorial today was about writing essays. Approaches, brainstorming, readings, referencing, and what to cover one each of the prompts. It was kind of weird being walked through it so much. It is a first year class though I guess. We had to split into groups depending on the essay we planned on writing and I was only one in the class that chose mine. This other guy that hadn't decided yet joined me just so that we could actually do the activity. Apparently my prompt is the hardest one according to the teacher. Grand. It seemed like the most interesting one.
I should start studying. Not this minute, but if I don't it's going to be a shitty exam month. I don't think I retain information as well I did in high school. And I didn't even retain all that much then either. Calc is all gone now. So is the miniscule bit of Chemistry. pv=nrt is all I've got. Anyway, yes. Going back over notes periodically would be extremely helpful I'm sure.
Oh yeah I signed up and paid for the Killarney trip in two weeks. Lookin forward to it.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Midlands
Alright so yesterday was cool. Clonmacnoise is really awesome. So old. They have a little museum with the high crosses and the oldest of the grave slabs--some of them use Ogham. Ogham is the ancient Irish writing system that's a line with different numbers of slashes through the line meaning different letters basically. Basically. Those are from the 400s or something crazy. On the actual site there are five temples, two round towers, and a cathedral. All stone, all gray, all ruined mostly (one temple the Church of Ireland still uses, so they fixed it up). It's right next to the River Shannon and is on the ancient east/west road through the country. It was cloudy all day and that makes for some cool dreary photos.
The Belvedere House was nice. I think there's more to see in May or June though. The whole point of going there is the house itself but then the grounds which are a bunch of gardens and a "forest" but nothing is in bloom right now. Except for these on the left. Do you know what they are Grandma? They have a really pretty color. It's not exactly pink. Anyways, the house is creepy. It has a mote. The story is that the "Wicked Earl" that lived there--Robert Rochfort Lord Belfield--put his wife under house arrest for 31 years because of an alleged affair between her and his younger brother. Sometime later the younger brother build a bigger house nearby and 
the Wicked Earl had the Jealous Wall built so that he wouldn't have to look at it. It's made to look like the ruined all of a castle, but it's from the late 1700s. There's also a "Gothic Arch" which is made to look like a ruin, but it's not. Then there's this octagonal gazebo thing out in the middle of nowhere. Those three things they call "follies" because they serve no real purpose--not what they normally would anyway. The house is supposed to be haunted. The Irish Ghost Hunters went there and got some activity apparently. The wine cellar is super creepy, but I think it's supposed to be--they don't put any lights in there. There are huge, massive mirrors in all the rooms too. And they're all raised so it's not like they were used to see yourself. I guess just to make all the tiny rooms look bigger.
I didn't know anybody there--except the Dutch girl who I don't talk to anymore and this other girl from Irish class last term who I don't talk to either--and I didn't really expect to (or really want to) make acquaintances. But I got on the bus and sat by a window and this girl runs on the bus and sits next to me. She's Russian and talkative. It's funny because I understood everything she would say but I don't really think she got anything I said cause she would always just answer "ah yes" not matter what. I don't know. She was kind of weird. We'd been driving for 20 minutes and she said we should plan on going to Sligo together just because we both want to go there. Let's take it slow lady. We also talked about how much we enjoy traveling alone. You'd think that would mean that once we reached our destination we'd go our separate ways, but instead when we got off the bus she was like "let's" do this or that or what should "we" do, so she adopted me. It was good though. I shouldn't be so hateful haha. She likes taking tons of pictures like I do, so that was good. She walks really fast though, which is fine, but we ended up seeing everything really fast and having an hour to sit there and chill before coming back to Maynooth. Every little thing though she asked me if I wanted a picture with it. I guess that's nice too. I didn't have to ask anybody. She wrote down her name so that I could find her on facebook if I decide I want to go to Sligo with her. I don't know...
Tonight the International Society is doing is weekly film showing and trip sign-up. The next trip is in two weeks to Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, and the Dingle Peninsula. I'm going to sign up. I want to see those places but didn't think I would because you have to go on day trips from either Cork or Galway and they are a bit pricey. With the International Society though, you pay one free and everything is included, and we have our own bus driver the entire time which is awesome because there's no tight schedule that way. It's three nights from the 22nd to 25th. That also leaves the 18th through 21st for me to do other things. So yeah, there are only so many seats available, so hopefully I get one. I don't think I'll stay for the movie though. It's In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day Lewis. I'll see how I feel when I get there.
I woke up really late and have been feeling lazy ever since today. I should go grocery shopping, but I just don't want to. I'm out of garlic though. It's serious.
The Belvedere House was nice. I think there's more to see in May or June though. The whole point of going there is the house itself but then the grounds which are a bunch of gardens and a "forest" but nothing is in bloom right now. Except for these on the left. Do you know what they are Grandma? They have a really pretty color. It's not exactly pink. Anyways, the house is creepy. It has a mote. The story is that the "Wicked Earl" that lived there--Robert Rochfort Lord Belfield--put his wife under house arrest for 31 years because of an alleged affair between her and his younger brother. Sometime later the younger brother build a bigger house nearby and 
the Wicked Earl had the Jealous Wall built so that he wouldn't have to look at it. It's made to look like the ruined all of a castle, but it's from the late 1700s. There's also a "Gothic Arch" which is made to look like a ruin, but it's not. Then there's this octagonal gazebo thing out in the middle of nowhere. Those three things they call "follies" because they serve no real purpose--not what they normally would anyway. The house is supposed to be haunted. The Irish Ghost Hunters went there and got some activity apparently. The wine cellar is super creepy, but I think it's supposed to be--they don't put any lights in there. There are huge, massive mirrors in all the rooms too. And they're all raised so it's not like they were used to see yourself. I guess just to make all the tiny rooms look bigger.I didn't know anybody there--except the Dutch girl who I don't talk to anymore and this other girl from Irish class last term who I don't talk to either--and I didn't really expect to (or really want to) make acquaintances. But I got on the bus and sat by a window and this girl runs on the bus and sits next to me. She's Russian and talkative. It's funny because I understood everything she would say but I don't really think she got anything I said cause she would always just answer "ah yes" not matter what. I don't know. She was kind of weird. We'd been driving for 20 minutes and she said we should plan on going to Sligo together just because we both want to go there. Let's take it slow lady. We also talked about how much we enjoy traveling alone. You'd think that would mean that once we reached our destination we'd go our separate ways, but instead when we got off the bus she was like "let's" do this or that or what should "we" do, so she adopted me. It was good though. I shouldn't be so hateful haha. She likes taking tons of pictures like I do, so that was good. She walks really fast though, which is fine, but we ended up seeing everything really fast and having an hour to sit there and chill before coming back to Maynooth. Every little thing though she asked me if I wanted a picture with it. I guess that's nice too. I didn't have to ask anybody. She wrote down her name so that I could find her on facebook if I decide I want to go to Sligo with her. I don't know...
Tonight the International Society is doing is weekly film showing and trip sign-up. The next trip is in two weeks to Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, and the Dingle Peninsula. I'm going to sign up. I want to see those places but didn't think I would because you have to go on day trips from either Cork or Galway and they are a bit pricey. With the International Society though, you pay one free and everything is included, and we have our own bus driver the entire time which is awesome because there's no tight schedule that way. It's three nights from the 22nd to 25th. That also leaves the 18th through 21st for me to do other things. So yeah, there are only so many seats available, so hopefully I get one. I don't think I'll stay for the movie though. It's In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day Lewis. I'll see how I feel when I get there.
I woke up really late and have been feeling lazy ever since today. I should go grocery shopping, but I just don't want to. I'm out of garlic though. It's serious.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
C&B
Friday, March 9, 2012
83
Clonmacnoise is in Co. Offaly and it's a "sacred site" so there's a cemetery and a bunch of temples and a castle and probably some big celtic crosses. It's on the River Shannon. I didn't realize the River Shannon came that far north.
Belvedere House is in Co. Westmeath and I guess it's old and pretty and haunted. Grand.
I haven't done much of anything today.
Belvedere House is in Co. Westmeath and I guess it's old and pretty and haunted. Grand.
I haven't done much of anything today.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
In the quiet, in the crowd
I'm going to Clonmacnoise and Belvedere House on Saturday. I don't know where those are, but the International Society is going and it was only 18Euro, so why not?
Aoife did the "cinnamon challenge" and ended up spewing cinnamon all over the kitchen floor.
Tonight's the last night of Rag Week. It's probably going to be mad.
Aoife did the "cinnamon challenge" and ended up spewing cinnamon all over the kitchen floor.
Tonight's the last night of Rag Week. It's probably going to be mad.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Keep the Earth below my feet.
I'm going to Scotland! I was thinking about it all day so I I looked up how much it was going to cost just to get an idea, and it's cheap. I've seen Grandma and Grandpa pay more for dirt than what the flight cost. So I did. I'm going during Easter week: April 9th-13th. We don't have classes that week. I booked a hostel too. Really exciting. The hostel advertises a free day tour of the city and also a not-free day tour of the highlands. I really want to do that one. The Scottish Highlands...I can't even imagine. I'm not doing the Underground though. You couldn't pay me to. I'm not going anywhere I've seen the Ghost Adventurers go.
Next month or maybe in May, the International Society is planning a trip to Liverpool. That would be awesome too. They haven't said how much it's going to be, but if it's reasonable I'll be there.
The damn residence office keeps sending me emails about rent. I'm getting annoyed. I'm paid up to the middle of May, so they are just going to have to wait for the rest of it and there's nothing they can do about it. They only have to wait until the first week of April. I hope anyway, if the financial aid office at Central has their shit together this time around. As soon as that comes in I'm paying the rest of my rent, buying a ticket home, and booking my Prague trip.
We have a "study break" in two weeks. I'm thinking that can be my time to head north. Belfast--which Rick Steves said is safer than most US cities and for sure the safest city in the UK fyi--Derry, the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. We'll see though. I think I've been impulsive enough for today.
Next month or maybe in May, the International Society is planning a trip to Liverpool. That would be awesome too. They haven't said how much it's going to be, but if it's reasonable I'll be there.
The damn residence office keeps sending me emails about rent. I'm getting annoyed. I'm paid up to the middle of May, so they are just going to have to wait for the rest of it and there's nothing they can do about it. They only have to wait until the first week of April. I hope anyway, if the financial aid office at Central has their shit together this time around. As soon as that comes in I'm paying the rest of my rent, buying a ticket home, and booking my Prague trip.
We have a "study break" in two weeks. I'm thinking that can be my time to head north. Belfast--which Rick Steves said is safer than most US cities and for sure the safest city in the UK fyi--Derry, the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle. We'll see though. I think I've been impulsive enough for today.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Dark is right
My day was thrown off when I decided to ignore my alarm. So I slept through Roman Lit and then lost track of time later for Trad. It's alright though. Those classes are the easiest to miss because the teachers put power points online and the Trad teacher even puts his lecture notes up there.
The front door of the apartment doesn't lock anymore. It's nice because I don't have to get my key out until I get to our door and I don't have to worry about getting locked out and nobody needs to use the stupid buzzer thing so I don't get woken up at 3am by drunk idiots. On the other hand, anybody can get in here.
I don't know what's with Irish guys and breaking beer bottles. There is broken glass all over the walkways through the apartments. Unresolved inner anger.
Shitty weather today--cloudy, windy, rainy.
Practicing went really well today--I was determined to get through the whole warm-up routine. It took half an hour. It should take longer. I was determined to get through it, but I wasn't dedicated to doing it properly all the time. Baby steps alright. I wrote practicing into the schedule on my wall though. In sharpie, really big. I can't play mind tricks on myself though. That's the thing.
I was feeling a bit spiteful in Athens class:
...but here I have to be sitting in this nasty lecture theatre from 30 years ago with the stiff fluff coming out of the seats and the staples underneath poking holes in my jeans. The sign language guy is awesome--he cuts out all the bullshit this guy says. I don't think he wears undershirts...he's such a cliche...just shut up.
Oh yeah! Bitches used my tea last night! I would never go through somebody else's press and use their shit if I didn't even live there. I was ragin' for a second and then was reasonable and just used a bunch of the-person-responsible's milk for my own tea.
The front door of the apartment doesn't lock anymore. It's nice because I don't have to get my key out until I get to our door and I don't have to worry about getting locked out and nobody needs to use the stupid buzzer thing so I don't get woken up at 3am by drunk idiots. On the other hand, anybody can get in here.
I don't know what's with Irish guys and breaking beer bottles. There is broken glass all over the walkways through the apartments. Unresolved inner anger.
Shitty weather today--cloudy, windy, rainy.
Practicing went really well today--I was determined to get through the whole warm-up routine. It took half an hour. It should take longer. I was determined to get through it, but I wasn't dedicated to doing it properly all the time. Baby steps alright. I wrote practicing into the schedule on my wall though. In sharpie, really big. I can't play mind tricks on myself though. That's the thing.
I was feeling a bit spiteful in Athens class:
...but here I have to be sitting in this nasty lecture theatre from 30 years ago with the stiff fluff coming out of the seats and the staples underneath poking holes in my jeans. The sign language guy is awesome--he cuts out all the bullshit this guy says. I don't think he wears undershirts...he's such a cliche...just shut up.
Oh yeah! Bitches used my tea last night! I would never go through somebody else's press and use their shit if I didn't even live there. I was ragin' for a second and then was reasonable and just used a bunch of the-person-responsible's milk for my own tea.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rag Week
This doesn't mean what people might initially think...it's a week to be drunk 24 hours a day. I guess up until last year it was actually advertised by the school and they had lunch specials and drink deals at the Student Union bar. But maybe they realised that people who are locked out of their minds aren't going to go to class and the teachers will be lecturing to 10% of their students. So, probably not the thing for a school to advocate right? Student body elections are next week and a lot of them are talking about bringing it back. I don't see why. It's not like it matters if the school is in on it or not. The school isn't going to try to stop it--there are people having whiskey brunch in the walkways and vodka picnics on the grass in front of the apartments. I don't really care if they want to get hammered at noon, I just don't see why they need the excuse.
I kind of like tutorials. I don't think I'm supposed to, but they are kind of more what I'm used to--format-wise. There are fewer students and one teacher who knows your name and can call you out so you have to pay attention at least a little bit. We had to read an article about this journalist who went undercover as a low-wage worker in Key West in 1998. I enjoyed reading it. She wrote it like a story instead of some academic journal entry. Anyways, as you can imagine it was a sucky experience for her and she told all about it. There's an older man in my tutorial and he seems nice and well-meaning and all, but the thing about old men who seem nice and well-meaning is that sometimes when they think they are being clever they are actually being ignorant. His witty question for the group was "Do you think it's about time the United States have another civil war?" His idea was that the civil war was fought over slavery (which it wasn't) and that if we just have a war that pins the rich against those below the poverty line it would abolish...slavery? poverty itself? No man. I'm kind of the token American in this tutorial now and I expected to have to put in my two cents, but not immediately following that. I don't know where the feeling came from, but I felt the need to put the Civil war record straight so I started with "The Civil war wasn't really about slavery" and they all looked kind of surprised. Is that rude? I didn't say it rudely--I said it kind of quickly and just throwing it out there. I don't want to be rude...sorry old man if I was rude. Ugh now I feel bad. I went on to say that even if there was a full-on war between the classes it wouldn't work. That low-wage workers are low-wage workers because they are "unskilled workers" and employers are taking advantage of the fact that they are unskilled which points to a lack of education on the worker's part so working on the education system would be much more helpful. Blah blah blah. It was thought provoking.
I have to write an essay by the end of the month for Sociology and one for Traditional Irish music sometime...he hasn't even posted the essay titles yet though so I'm not going to worry about it yet. That one is going to be harder because we have to find our own sources I think. The Soc essay has a note that if you use a book other than the list of ones she gave us at the beginning of the term it will only looked upon favorably if we use it really well. So basically that's saying that we don't have to really do research in the sense that we have to go out and find our own sources, we just have to either look through those books on the list (doubtful) or just look at the lecturer's powerpoint, find something you like, and look at the bibliography at the end to see where she got it. Kind of ridiculous.
This may sound stupid, but I kind of miss having daily assignments. Maybe I just miss having a sense of structure.
I think I'm going to call it in early tonight.
I kind of like tutorials. I don't think I'm supposed to, but they are kind of more what I'm used to--format-wise. There are fewer students and one teacher who knows your name and can call you out so you have to pay attention at least a little bit. We had to read an article about this journalist who went undercover as a low-wage worker in Key West in 1998. I enjoyed reading it. She wrote it like a story instead of some academic journal entry. Anyways, as you can imagine it was a sucky experience for her and she told all about it. There's an older man in my tutorial and he seems nice and well-meaning and all, but the thing about old men who seem nice and well-meaning is that sometimes when they think they are being clever they are actually being ignorant. His witty question for the group was "Do you think it's about time the United States have another civil war?" His idea was that the civil war was fought over slavery (which it wasn't) and that if we just have a war that pins the rich against those below the poverty line it would abolish...slavery? poverty itself? No man. I'm kind of the token American in this tutorial now and I expected to have to put in my two cents, but not immediately following that. I don't know where the feeling came from, but I felt the need to put the Civil war record straight so I started with "The Civil war wasn't really about slavery" and they all looked kind of surprised. Is that rude? I didn't say it rudely--I said it kind of quickly and just throwing it out there. I don't want to be rude...sorry old man if I was rude. Ugh now I feel bad. I went on to say that even if there was a full-on war between the classes it wouldn't work. That low-wage workers are low-wage workers because they are "unskilled workers" and employers are taking advantage of the fact that they are unskilled which points to a lack of education on the worker's part so working on the education system would be much more helpful. Blah blah blah. It was thought provoking.
I have to write an essay by the end of the month for Sociology and one for Traditional Irish music sometime...he hasn't even posted the essay titles yet though so I'm not going to worry about it yet. That one is going to be harder because we have to find our own sources I think. The Soc essay has a note that if you use a book other than the list of ones she gave us at the beginning of the term it will only looked upon favorably if we use it really well. So basically that's saying that we don't have to really do research in the sense that we have to go out and find our own sources, we just have to either look through those books on the list (doubtful) or just look at the lecturer's powerpoint, find something you like, and look at the bibliography at the end to see where she got it. Kind of ridiculous.
This may sound stupid, but I kind of miss having daily assignments. Maybe I just miss having a sense of structure.
I think I'm going to call it in early tonight.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Need to jump in the cold water
They don't have the best landscapers here. There are a million squares of daffodils all over campus. They're pretty, but they seem randomly placed.
I watched the Ireland vs. France 6 Nations rugby match on TV today. It was really exciting. It ended in a draw though: 17-17. Those two teams haven't done that in 20 something years. Only one guy had to be carried off the field. Sports are way more fun to watch when you know what's going on.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
It's not down on any map...
...true places never are. --Herman Melville
I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Reading, watching Friends reruns on TV. Nothing too exciting.
Madison and Katie played beer pong against their people at home over skype. They won.
I have to start thinking about what classes I'm going to take next year. All I know for sure is history and band. And a lab science. Probably Biology. Rocks sound even less exciting than normal right now. Rocks are my other option. Oh yeah there's choir too...ugh. That's going to suck.
Lots of reading to do for sociology tomorrow. And it's all sideways. We got our essay "titles" (not prompts. Don't say prompts or they'll look at you funny.) on Tuesday and they all seem really straight forward. And it's a max of 2000 words which is comforting. It shouldn't be that bad. They are really scary about referencing and plagiarism though. The lecturer even said that we have to reference on our exam...where we can't actually look at any books or sources...so we just have to remember authors and their books and the years they were published and where they were published. She did say not page numbers. It's still bullshit.
Oh yeah, this is how Irish eggs look: Brown and orange. This is mostly for Madre--she's weird about eggs.
I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Reading, watching Friends reruns on TV. Nothing too exciting.
Madison and Katie played beer pong against their people at home over skype. They won.
I have to start thinking about what classes I'm going to take next year. All I know for sure is history and band. And a lab science. Probably Biology. Rocks sound even less exciting than normal right now. Rocks are my other option. Oh yeah there's choir too...ugh. That's going to suck.
Lots of reading to do for sociology tomorrow. And it's all sideways. We got our essay "titles" (not prompts. Don't say prompts or they'll look at you funny.) on Tuesday and they all seem really straight forward. And it's a max of 2000 words which is comforting. It shouldn't be that bad. They are really scary about referencing and plagiarism though. The lecturer even said that we have to reference on our exam...where we can't actually look at any books or sources...so we just have to remember authors and their books and the years they were published and where they were published. She did say not page numbers. It's still bullshit.
Oh yeah, this is how Irish eggs look: Brown and orange. This is mostly for Madre--she's weird about eggs.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Weird Day
Last night didn't turn out to be that bad. Everyone left to go down to the Roost and when they came back they left again right away. Thursday is like Friday because everyone leaves to go home on Fridays. I don't think they even schedule that many classes on Friday because they know that no one is going to go. It's ridiculous.
I've been flipping through channels for a few hours now...kind of tedious. I like it better out here than in my room though.
Bleeping on Irish TV doesn't make sense. They can't say "Fuck you" or "Get the fuck out of here" but they can say "Fuck off" and "Fucking-whatever." I don't understand. They're also allowed to say shit. Southpark is a lot more entertaining. Sorry Nana. I hope Grandma found a nice way to censor that.
Mel Gibson could run really fast 25 years ago.
They have Shamrock shakes here too! I think that's hilarious.
I've been flipping through channels for a few hours now...kind of tedious. I like it better out here than in my room though.
Bleeping on Irish TV doesn't make sense. They can't say "Fuck you" or "Get the fuck out of here" but they can say "Fuck off" and "Fucking-whatever." I don't understand. They're also allowed to say shit. Southpark is a lot more entertaining. Sorry Nana. I hope Grandma found a nice way to censor that.
Mel Gibson could run really fast 25 years ago.
They have Shamrock shakes here too! I think that's hilarious.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Heya March.
Obsession of the day/last two days: The Big Bang Theory. The show that is--not the actual theory.
Campus is mental tonight. I don't know if it's because today was the first legitimately sunny day of the year, but it's dark now people. Not that they all have to have bed times. My window is still open and right now I'm smelling some skunk and there are girls screaming up and down the stairwell. It's so annoying. It was really beautiful outside though. I wasn't completely attached to my ipod cause the birds were a better soundtrack.
Of all the things in the "Ancient world," I wish the Library at Alexandria were still around. That would have been awesome. I'd still like to go to Alexandria someday. There's a bucket list sort of thing.
I'm not reading Dickens. I read the first page of The Pickwick Papers like a month ago and couldn't take it, so it Hemingway time instead. His short stories are something else. I don't normally use that phrase because I don't think it says much. It's like saying something is "interesting." But I'm lacking a sufficient adjective right now. "Sad" isn't quite right and "real" is too Romantic and "good" is just dumb. Anyway, now I'm on to James Frey's newest. Probably dumb to bring a big heavy book back with me, but it was the one on my bookshelf calling to me.
Oh my God. Everything is mental. I don't know what the deal is, but there are again half a million people in our apartment. None of them that I know. I don't think all of them even know each other. I'm sure they're drunk though. At least some of the guys are. The trolley is popular again though. Someone upstairs set off the fire alarm. If anyone comes into my room it's going to get ugly.
Campus is mental tonight. I don't know if it's because today was the first legitimately sunny day of the year, but it's dark now people. Not that they all have to have bed times. My window is still open and right now I'm smelling some skunk and there are girls screaming up and down the stairwell. It's so annoying. It was really beautiful outside though. I wasn't completely attached to my ipod cause the birds were a better soundtrack.
Of all the things in the "Ancient world," I wish the Library at Alexandria were still around. That would have been awesome. I'd still like to go to Alexandria someday. There's a bucket list sort of thing.
I'm not reading Dickens. I read the first page of The Pickwick Papers like a month ago and couldn't take it, so it Hemingway time instead. His short stories are something else. I don't normally use that phrase because I don't think it says much. It's like saying something is "interesting." But I'm lacking a sufficient adjective right now. "Sad" isn't quite right and "real" is too Romantic and "good" is just dumb. Anyway, now I'm on to James Frey's newest. Probably dumb to bring a big heavy book back with me, but it was the one on my bookshelf calling to me.
Oh my God. Everything is mental. I don't know what the deal is, but there are again half a million people in our apartment. None of them that I know. I don't think all of them even know each other. I'm sure they're drunk though. At least some of the guys are. The trolley is popular again though. Someone upstairs set off the fire alarm. If anyone comes into my room it's going to get ugly.
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