In this entry I could talk about the witch hunt that I went on tonight. I could talk about how it was put on by the Trinity College History Society and took the form of a treasure hunt. I could talk about how funny it must have been to see a bunch of college kids running through the streets of Dublin with pitchforks and torches. I could talk about the people on my team and how we almost won but lost in the end. I could talk about all this, if it weren't for the rain. Tonight was the night for the annual (I think?) Trinity College Witch Hunt. We were all told, quite mysteriously may I add, to meet at the campanile at 5:30 pm. As pointed out by Samantha, thats kinda sketchy. Regardless, I popped into Dr. Ditchburn's office hours right after my class was over to discuss the first of two essays we have to write for his class. While I was sitting in his office discussing the self-centered nature of Bounaccorso Pitti, it saw that it started to rain outside. Now this wasn't your typical Irish drizzle. It began to downpour. Not good. Still at 5:30, it had cleared up a little bit, I made my way over to the center of campus to meet everyone for the witch hunt. I quickly learned that it would be postponed. Again, not good. In the end, while severely disappointed, we all decided to head over to MacTurcles, a pub not too far from campus with fairly cheap pints.
Despite that being quite the letdown, today was actually pretty productive for me. I cranked out 2000 words for that Ditchburn paper and played badminton for two hours. Yes I probably would have wanted to top off the night by burning a witch, but the rain would have put out the fire. So no point in that. But I also did learn of a Dublin tradition called the "Twelve Pubs of Christmas", so that should be interesting!
Well off to bed now! Check back with you all soon!
FMS
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Stay Off the Grass... Just Kidding
So when Ireland is brought to mind, most people think of beer. If not you'll probably think of drunks. If you can somehow bypass that mental schema you'll think of the color green. Trinity College is no different. Like most of the college campuses in the states, the grounds are dotted with green grass and all. Unlike American schools, however, pretty much all of the grass is off limits. It is not unusual to find 18th-century metal chains surrounding the green or 21st-century signs warning us to stay off the lawn. On a normal day, most people will surround the grass. Never on the grass, only sitting on the steps next to it. That was not the case today. Normally on Tuesdays I would have Developmental Psychology and Irish History back to back. But today after my first class, the fire alarm went off. First off Irish fire alarms are really loud. Secondly we really didn't know what to do when it happened. Obviously, go outside. But the last time we all heard a fire alarm go off in the buttery, no body moved. So we were quite literally deer caught in the headlights. Ok maybe not literally. But so anyway, we were ushered outside by security guards. From the front door to the arts block we made our way, by the direction of the guards, on to the grass. Take a moment to take in the gravity of this situation. They forced us on to their coveted lawn. Thats big news.
Well thats gotta be all for today. Been working with all the Cork people to figure out the Edinburgh trip. Hope it will all come together in the end!!!
FMS
Well thats gotta be all for today. Been working with all the Cork people to figure out the Edinburgh trip. Hope it will all come together in the end!!!
FMS
Monday, October 25, 2010
Vikings Have Holidays Too!
FDR was really on to something... Now you're probably all trying to make the connection between the Norsemen of Scandinavia and the New Deal. Well I have to say you're probably not going to find it, so I'll just get on with it. Today was a Bank Holiday. Considering we do not have a day off for Columbus not discovering Ireland, we get a day off to pay tribute to banks. Seeing that it had been a pretty lazy yet productive weekend, I sat around and did research, I decided to take today to venture into town. Also random side note: apparently all this time when I've been saying that I'm going into Dublin...I've been wrong...I've been going into town...Howth is in Dublin. Who knew?! Anyway construction rendered the DART useless for the weekend so I caught the bus into town from the Howth summit. As I got off the bus at the O'Connel Street Spire at around noon, I found myself to be extremely hungry. Beyond belief. So after making a quick stop for a Chicken Legend, I wandered across town to Serena's apartment by Fitzwilliam's Square. Another random side note: the Fitz's are very common in Ireland...Fitzwilliam, Fitzgeralds, Fitzsimmons. Seeing that the last two names on that list are bars by Trinity does not really say much for my character.
From her apartment, Serena, Katie, Laura and I crossed town, yet again, to Christ Church. Now I had already seen this amazing cathedral so I will not dwell on it. One thing that I did notice this time, that I don't think I saw before, is that one side of the building looks like its falling down the hill that its situated on. Facing the alter, the wall on your right-hand side looks perfectly perpendicular with the ground. The left-hand side, however, seems to be angled away from you! I probably should have asked someone while I was there as to what is going on. But with no other knowledge, I am going to promote my theory that the cathedral is falling down the hill. Stay tuned.
Across the street from us was the Dublinia museum. With our combo Christ Church / Dublinia tickets, we crossed into the world of the Vikings. Despite the common perception of the Vikings invading all of the British Isles, they actually founded Dublin in 841. This site is a tribute to their culture, and how they adapted and furthered civilization in Ireland. As serious as this may sound, there were costumes. At one point on the first floor of the exhibit there was a chest of clothes screaming in capital letters: TRY THESE. So we did. Laura actually got a pretty good picture of Serena stabbing me. It was pretty epic. Yet extremely unfair because there was only one sword. But the museum had some really cool setups about typical life in this period. They depicted the traditional county fair, the center of medieval commerce, and the typical merchant's house. From here we made our way to the top of the tower in Dublinia. The museum has a very similar style to the Christ Church Cathedral, just across the street, and they're connected by a second floor stone bridge of a similar style. I'm probably completely wrong about this but my guess is that Dublinia was some sort of religious order or group affiliated with the church before it became Dublinia. That would probably also explain the tower. Regardless, the tower provides an amazing panoramic view of the city. Many people say a rooftop view of Dublin is not much to see, well I think they're wrong.
With dinner time approaching, we walked back down Dame Street towards Trinity College. The plan was simple. We would go see the grounds to Dublin Castle on the way to get dinner. We weren't going to go inside because it was to close in twenty minutes. Surprisingly, we stuck to that plan. But the castle is an amazing site. Its smack-dab in the middle of Dublin city centre and it still evokes an amazing Medieval feeling when you walk through the front gates. As planned, we did not stay long at all but got a few quick shots in. Photographs, not alcohol. Leaving the eleventh-century grounds we made our way to Wagamama. Yes that is the actual name of the restaurant. It is a Japanese place of Grafton Street and it has a really laid back atmosphere. But the food was cheap and it was delicious. I got some really spicy, and somehow really sweet, noodle dish with Teriyaki Chicken. I don't think it was Teriyaki. But it was still really good. After dinner I caught the next bus back to Howth, watching the scenery go by as listened to, yet another, history podcast.
Well so this ends a three, actually four, day weekend. Talk to you all soon!
FMS
From her apartment, Serena, Katie, Laura and I crossed town, yet again, to Christ Church. Now I had already seen this amazing cathedral so I will not dwell on it. One thing that I did notice this time, that I don't think I saw before, is that one side of the building looks like its falling down the hill that its situated on. Facing the alter, the wall on your right-hand side looks perfectly perpendicular with the ground. The left-hand side, however, seems to be angled away from you! I probably should have asked someone while I was there as to what is going on. But with no other knowledge, I am going to promote my theory that the cathedral is falling down the hill. Stay tuned.
Across the street from us was the Dublinia museum. With our combo Christ Church / Dublinia tickets, we crossed into the world of the Vikings. Despite the common perception of the Vikings invading all of the British Isles, they actually founded Dublin in 841. This site is a tribute to their culture, and how they adapted and furthered civilization in Ireland. As serious as this may sound, there were costumes. At one point on the first floor of the exhibit there was a chest of clothes screaming in capital letters: TRY THESE. So we did. Laura actually got a pretty good picture of Serena stabbing me. It was pretty epic. Yet extremely unfair because there was only one sword. But the museum had some really cool setups about typical life in this period. They depicted the traditional county fair, the center of medieval commerce, and the typical merchant's house. From here we made our way to the top of the tower in Dublinia. The museum has a very similar style to the Christ Church Cathedral, just across the street, and they're connected by a second floor stone bridge of a similar style. I'm probably completely wrong about this but my guess is that Dublinia was some sort of religious order or group affiliated with the church before it became Dublinia. That would probably also explain the tower. Regardless, the tower provides an amazing panoramic view of the city. Many people say a rooftop view of Dublin is not much to see, well I think they're wrong.
With dinner time approaching, we walked back down Dame Street towards Trinity College. The plan was simple. We would go see the grounds to Dublin Castle on the way to get dinner. We weren't going to go inside because it was to close in twenty minutes. Surprisingly, we stuck to that plan. But the castle is an amazing site. Its smack-dab in the middle of Dublin city centre and it still evokes an amazing Medieval feeling when you walk through the front gates. As planned, we did not stay long at all but got a few quick shots in. Photographs, not alcohol. Leaving the eleventh-century grounds we made our way to Wagamama. Yes that is the actual name of the restaurant. It is a Japanese place of Grafton Street and it has a really laid back atmosphere. But the food was cheap and it was delicious. I got some really spicy, and somehow really sweet, noodle dish with Teriyaki Chicken. I don't think it was Teriyaki. But it was still really good. After dinner I caught the next bus back to Howth, watching the scenery go by as listened to, yet another, history podcast.
Well so this ends a three, actually four, day weekend. Talk to you all soon!
FMS
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Hiking Howth and Cajun Chicken
Although this is a three day weekend, and I do need to get a lot of work done, I figured its only Saturday! I still have two more days where I can read to my heart's content. Rather than sit around the house I thought it'd be productive, and worth it, to hike around the Howth cliffs. So after a quick breakfast, I set out up Balkill Road towards the Summit Inn at the top of the Hill. Just beyond the inn, which was only a quick walk, was the car park for the cliff walk. I started to walk down this paved path when I ran into an elderly couple. I asked, just to be sure, that I was on the trail that wrapped around the peninsula down into Howth village. The man confirmed that I was on the right path, but an even better hike goes a bit further down and is fairly close to the face of the cliff. I took his advice and doubled back up to the trail head where I got on a steep path that, as he said, led towards the edge of the cliffs. As soon as it began to level out, I looked to my right and this really cool lighthouse, the Baily Lighthouse, just chillin' on the end of a point jutting out into the sea, rightfully called the Great Baily. Looking back on the pictures I took from today, I have so many pictures of Baily that it may seem like I'm walking towards it, when in reality every time I'd round a corner, it would somehow just pop out for a really cool shot! Truthfully, the hike around Howth head reminded me of Bodega. A lot. It was just a really nice hike and I'm sure I'll be doing it again.
After I had been hiking for about an hour or so, the trail started to go downhill again as I made my way down towards the village. Before completely getting down on to a paved road, I passed through a row of metal bars that were about a foot apart from each other. They were easy to walk through, probably just as easy to bike, so were they trying to prevent people from driving on the cliffs? Who knows... So I walked down the road to the village and along the way I passed by a Martello Tower. These were built across the British in the nineteenth century to protect her Empire from Napoleon and the French. While they were primarily military fortifications, they were known for their use of fire to communicate. Set up around the whole perimeter of Ireland, any sign of invasion would cause the first tower to light a fire; the next tower, always within sight, would light there's and this chain reaction could send messages across the island pretty quickly! From there I walked the length of Howth pier which provides an amazing view of the whole village. From the walkway there were stairs down into the water. Now I think these may be for rescue purposes, but I gotta say, I was tempted to go for a swim. Granted the water was probably, no definitely, freezing. So I resisted. I started my walk back up Howth hill and stopped for lunch in village at the country kitchen. With a cajun chicken sandwich in hand I continued my trek back home. I paused on a bench overlooking the harbor to eat and just as I sat down...it started to rain. Considering that I was under a tree, I thought it best not to make a run for it. Having finished my sandwich, I waited for the rain to stop (which happens all the time) and concluded my walk back home.
Well thats all for now! I'll be in town tomorrow being a tourist...so more on that soon!
FMS
After I had been hiking for about an hour or so, the trail started to go downhill again as I made my way down towards the village. Before completely getting down on to a paved road, I passed through a row of metal bars that were about a foot apart from each other. They were easy to walk through, probably just as easy to bike, so were they trying to prevent people from driving on the cliffs? Who knows... So I walked down the road to the village and along the way I passed by a Martello Tower. These were built across the British in the nineteenth century to protect her Empire from Napoleon and the French. While they were primarily military fortifications, they were known for their use of fire to communicate. Set up around the whole perimeter of Ireland, any sign of invasion would cause the first tower to light a fire; the next tower, always within sight, would light there's and this chain reaction could send messages across the island pretty quickly! From there I walked the length of Howth pier which provides an amazing view of the whole village. From the walkway there were stairs down into the water. Now I think these may be for rescue purposes, but I gotta say, I was tempted to go for a swim. Granted the water was probably, no definitely, freezing. So I resisted. I started my walk back up Howth hill and stopped for lunch in village at the country kitchen. With a cajun chicken sandwich in hand I continued my trek back home. I paused on a bench overlooking the harbor to eat and just as I sat down...it started to rain. Considering that I was under a tree, I thought it best not to make a run for it. Having finished my sandwich, I waited for the rain to stop (which happens all the time) and concluded my walk back home.
Well thats all for now! I'll be in town tomorrow being a tourist...so more on that soon!
FMS
Thursday, October 21, 2010
California Dreamin'
So todays blog is about the weather and mexican food, two things I miss dearly from California. I'll start things off by saying that we are entering the winter months in Dublin...mid-October. But its strange because, keeping with Irish custom, the weather remains completely erratic. Yesterday morning I got a ride to the DART station from Pam (Max's mom). When we walked out to her car at 8am, it was freezing. I ran back inside, got my Lakenridge fleece, and staged take two of Harry vs. the cold. I realized how cold it really was when I got into Pam's car and saw that the front window was completely covered with ice. This wasn't just a little frost; you could not see through it at all! Regardless, I made it to the station in time for the train into town, went along with my merry way and arrived in Dublin at around 8:45. From that point on, I was basically shut inside from classes, where my non-PC Irish history professor made many Catholic Church jokes (another story, different day), until around 3:30. Before leaving I looked outside and saw blue skies and quite a lot of sunlight. So I rolled up my sleeves, put on my sunglasses and walked out the front door to the arts block...only to be greeted by a huge gust of freezing wind. Stupid windows. I then proceeded to the Pearse Street Station to catch the next DART home. On a random side-note, look up the "Stuff You Missed in History" podcast on iTunes. I listen to it on the train and it is quite addicting. After the ride back of the city, although there were Arctic winds when I got on the train, I stepped on to the Howth platform and felt a nice warm breeze accompanied by warm sunlight. Not the fake sunlight I saw on campus. It was legitimately warm outside. Sometimes I just don't understand Ireland.
Today was a very intense Mexican day for me. I really don't know how it happened, but I can tell you what happened. So today after Renaissance Florence, Serena, Katie and I went to go get lunch at this crepe place right on Grafton Street, which is just a block from Trinity. Now because this place specialized in crepes, I got a sandwich. It was far cheaper. According to the menu, it was actually a melt. A salsa melt. But it was between two pieces of bread which, back home, we call a sandwich. Either way, it was really good. It was filled with, well, salsa for starters, but it was packed with guacamole (haven't had that in a while), cheese, peppers, and more stuff I'm sure. It was then melted, apparently, on a griddle. So basically I had a Mexican grilled cheese. Fast forward to dinner tonight. We had fajitas. Now to be fair, the only common ingredient was the salsa. But it was still Mexican twice in one day! Anyway the fajitas were also just as good as the melted sandwich. Although both of them were great and they did satisfy my need for Mexican food, but its just not the same as back in California! So I guess nice weather and great Mexican food just aren't in the cards for Ireland.
Now I'm not saying a tortilla made me homesick, but when something reminds me of home I start to miss you all on both coasts. Yeah its sappy but its true. Not to worry though, I'm not having a melt down (haha melt) or anything over spicy food, things are still a blast and I expect so much more from the final two months. Talk to you all soon!
FMS
Today was a very intense Mexican day for me. I really don't know how it happened, but I can tell you what happened. So today after Renaissance Florence, Serena, Katie and I went to go get lunch at this crepe place right on Grafton Street, which is just a block from Trinity. Now because this place specialized in crepes, I got a sandwich. It was far cheaper. According to the menu, it was actually a melt. A salsa melt. But it was between two pieces of bread which, back home, we call a sandwich. Either way, it was really good. It was filled with, well, salsa for starters, but it was packed with guacamole (haven't had that in a while), cheese, peppers, and more stuff I'm sure. It was then melted, apparently, on a griddle. So basically I had a Mexican grilled cheese. Fast forward to dinner tonight. We had fajitas. Now to be fair, the only common ingredient was the salsa. But it was still Mexican twice in one day! Anyway the fajitas were also just as good as the melted sandwich. Although both of them were great and they did satisfy my need for Mexican food, but its just not the same as back in California! So I guess nice weather and great Mexican food just aren't in the cards for Ireland.
Now I'm not saying a tortilla made me homesick, but when something reminds me of home I start to miss you all on both coasts. Yeah its sappy but its true. Not to worry though, I'm not having a melt down (haha melt) or anything over spicy food, things are still a blast and I expect so much more from the final two months. Talk to you all soon!
FMS
Monday, October 18, 2010
Whirlwind
It is 7:30 am, and I am just about to run off to catch the DART, but wanted to attempt to quickly log the events of the past week. I know I haven't had that many posts in the past week (in fact, zero), and its not because it was an uneventful week. It was a typical week for a typical student in Ireland, except for a select few parts. So bare with me and hopefully it will all get out there.
Leaving off from my last post about my DART adventures: I went to the Garda Immigration Bureau, waited on line for three hours, got another ticket inviting me to come back and wait on line again, went to class, my professor called the Irish retarded, went back to the Garda, waited three more hours, breathed a sigh of relief, went to the library (many times), researched Renaissance violence, played badminton, swam at the gym, wandered Dublin (obviously), bought tickets for Portugal, skyped with Carole, discussed muffins, more research, lazy Friday night in Howth, in town Saturday morning, dinner with Katie and Serena, went to Flannery's, drank at Flannery's, got sick at Flannerys, woke up on Serena's couch...safe and sound...got the DART home, skyped with Nicole, discussed trombones, downloaded some history podcast (go nerd), woke up yesterday (in my own bed), went to class, learned about drugs, read some guys diary (don't worry he's dead), and called it a night last night after watching the Inbetweeners.
...I think thats everything. Well thats all for now! I'll check back sooner next time!!
FMS
Monday, October 11, 2010
Adventures on the DART
Monday is always a study day. I'm on campus at 10:00 for my psychology of addiction course and thats it for the day, so I will always end up in a cubicle in the library. Today, after spending a lovely four hours reading and outlining my textbook on Sixteenth-Century Ireland, I ran to Pearse Station to catch the next DART home. I casually walked into the lobby, glanced up at the screen, and saw that the next train to Howth left in...0 minutes. Great. Kicking it into high gear I sprinted up the stairs only to see the green trains pulling away from the platform. In retrospect, I am extremely glad that I missed that train because I had no idea what was coming on the next DART home.
1. I witnessed a chinese fire drill. As we pulled into the Clontarf Road Station, four guys, I'm guessing they were friends, got up out of their seats and ran out the door. Apparently they ran down the platform to the other door on the car, because soon enough they were back in their seats. Only, there were just three of them. As the train pulled away from the station, all of three of them looked out onto the platform to search for their fire drilling friend...with little success because he was sitting in the seat just at the end of the car. After a bit of a freak out, his friends soon realized that he had, in fact, safely completed the fire drill and was only watching for their reactions.
2. This wasn't as funny as the safety precautions of the first, but it was just one of those moments that catches you off guard. There are signs on all the windows displaying the witty phrase: "No Feet On Seats". How creative. But as we were rolling along today this middle aged man turns to this girl sitting across the aisle from him and says in an extremely disgusted tone: "Get your feet off that seat!" I mean thanks for enforcing the law of the land, but really now? He obviously didn't know her and she obviously rode the rest of the ride in extreme discomfort.
3. This is probably the best of the three, and thats why its going last. As we were pulling into the second to last stop, Sutton, I see this herd of women standing on the platform. We slowly inched to a stop and they all piled on to the car. First of all, this is strange because got the ride for only one stop. Its just as easy, if not easier, to drive or even walk to Howth. But I was about to turn my attention to something else when I realized that they were all wearing shower caps. I didn't really know what to think of it! So I chuckled to myself, and eventually successfully turned my attention to something else.
So I guess that missing the train ended up being a good thing! Hope everyone is doing great and I'll talk to you all soon!!
FMS
1. I witnessed a chinese fire drill. As we pulled into the Clontarf Road Station, four guys, I'm guessing they were friends, got up out of their seats and ran out the door. Apparently they ran down the platform to the other door on the car, because soon enough they were back in their seats. Only, there were just three of them. As the train pulled away from the station, all of three of them looked out onto the platform to search for their fire drilling friend...with little success because he was sitting in the seat just at the end of the car. After a bit of a freak out, his friends soon realized that he had, in fact, safely completed the fire drill and was only watching for their reactions.
2. This wasn't as funny as the safety precautions of the first, but it was just one of those moments that catches you off guard. There are signs on all the windows displaying the witty phrase: "No Feet On Seats". How creative. But as we were rolling along today this middle aged man turns to this girl sitting across the aisle from him and says in an extremely disgusted tone: "Get your feet off that seat!" I mean thanks for enforcing the law of the land, but really now? He obviously didn't know her and she obviously rode the rest of the ride in extreme discomfort.
3. This is probably the best of the three, and thats why its going last. As we were pulling into the second to last stop, Sutton, I see this herd of women standing on the platform. We slowly inched to a stop and they all piled on to the car. First of all, this is strange because got the ride for only one stop. Its just as easy, if not easier, to drive or even walk to Howth. But I was about to turn my attention to something else when I realized that they were all wearing shower caps. I didn't really know what to think of it! So I chuckled to myself, and eventually successfully turned my attention to something else.
So I guess that missing the train ended up being a good thing! Hope everyone is doing great and I'll talk to you all soon!!
FMS
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Please Sir, Can I Have Some Moher?
This was an epic weekend. Last weekend when I was in Cork we had all talked about going to Galway and seeing the Cliffs of Moher the next weekend, but it was one of those promises made by a group that had a high possibility of not actually getting carried out. I was happily proved wrong and it did happen. Everything began as I caught an evening DART into town which was an adventure on its own. On Friday night there was a Eurocup 2012 qualifier match against Russia, so the train was packed with soccer hooligans. It was awesome, but it probably violated many health codes with all those people. My original plan was to take the train across the island, but that fell through. Seeing that the Tara Street DART station is right by the bus stop, I felt it made sense to go for the more convenient, and cheaper, route to Galway. The bus got into the city center at 11:30 and I crossed town to meet everyone at the hostel. They were all just getting ready to go out for the night so I threw my bag on my bunk bed, it was just like summer camp, put in my contacts and we headed out for the night.
There were a few stops at a few pubs. I got a pint of the Galway Hooker at one of the bars so dirty jokes instantly circled the table. Eventually we found ourselves at the King's Head. The pub was founded in 1649 by the man responsible for executing King Charles I. It turns out the actual area had been a public meeting place for over 800 years, but the actual pub itself wasn't founded until the 17th century. Either way, obviously, I loved it. Filled with locals, the building was amazing on its own. The live music was nothing short of awesome. "The Naked Bear" played pretty much every popular song that a drunk person would sing along to. Everything from Journey to Blink-182 and MGMT to Lady Gaga. Their version of Bad Romance was actually really good, but the one song that got everyone singing was Little Lion Man. It is now its suck in my head, and has been for the whole weekend. If you haven't heard the song before...go youtube it now. As the night started to come to an end, everyone started to get really hungry. Jessie, Kerry and I ventured back to the hostel and a pizzeria across the street from our home was letting off an amazing smell. We poked our heads inside and it just got better learning that garlic bread and pizza make for wonderful food after a night at the pubs.
Waking up on Saturday was a long process. There was no hangover involved, but I was just extremely tired after getting only three hours of sleep. It didn't matter though, because we were going to see the Cliffs of Moher. Jessie found this amazing tour company that leaves from Galway and goes all around the area stopping pretty frequently at major historical sites. So again, I loved it. We drove by this one castle that was only accessible when there is low tide. Thanks to modern engineering they connected the quasi-island to the mainland but it was extremely cool. We also stopped at a ring fort which was an actual manmade hill formed into a ring in the earth. Apparently leprechauns lurk inside the circle so going off the trail on the ridge is quite risky. The tour made a stop in Doolin for lunch where we all ate at this small little pub in the village. I got the beef and Guinness stew which was amazing. It was such a simple dish but it tasted so good.
Finally after much anticipation and excitement, we drove over to the famous Cliffs of Moher. Even though you may not realize it, you have all seen these cliffs at least once and quite probably two times. For one the background to the blog is a picture of the cliffs themselves. Also, in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the cave that Harry and Dumbledore go to is at the base of the Cliffs of Moher. Although those are both amazing shots of this natural wonder, the pictures do not do them justice. It is absolutely breathtaking, for both its sheer beauty and for the feeling you get when you look over the edge 700 feet down to the crashing waves. We ventured in both directions around the rock face, taking pictures at every angle as if the cliffs were going to magically change. But I am proud to say that Jessie and I found the Harry Potter cave. We spotted it from O'Brien's Tower, the nineteenth-century tower placed on the highest point on the cliffs. As amazing as it was, we were all fearing for our lives considering the strong wind. You could jump and get carried a foot or two towards the edge. For that reason when we did the token jumping picture, we started a good fifteen feet from the drop off. Although no one wanted to leave the cliffs, we had to get back to our bus driver and tour guide Desmond who was on a very tight schedule with us. We made one more stop on the way back to Galway and we thought it'd be a good idea to build a pyramid...with fifteen people. We got three stable rows down perfectly. Then someone started to climb to start the fourth row, and our pyramid started to crumble. Being on the bottom row was not enjoyable.
Last night we ended up, yet again, at the King's Head. We drank before back at the hostel with some guys from Spain and taught them our vast supply of drinking games. The music at the pub did not disappoint either. It wasn't the same band as the night before but they hit on pretty much all the same classics. Sticking to tradition, we also found ourselves getting pizza. The only thing was, I had a good amount of alcohol in me and I had almost completely lost my voice from all the singing at King's Head. It was apparently, according to Jessie, a conversation of epic proportions. Like yesterday morning, getting up today was indeed quite the production. But we got breakfast and ventured off into the city to see what it actually looked like in the day time. We were touristy walking up and down Shop Street, which is literally lined with shops and we went down to the water to see the docks and the Spanish Arch. The cathedral in Galway is amazing. I got one picture of the outside and then my camera died. So that was a bit of a let down. As the day continued on we all started to make our way to the bus station. Having survived an amazing weekend in Galway, I find myself sitting in my room, still a little hoarse, but ready for whatever is next.
FMS
There were a few stops at a few pubs. I got a pint of the Galway Hooker at one of the bars so dirty jokes instantly circled the table. Eventually we found ourselves at the King's Head. The pub was founded in 1649 by the man responsible for executing King Charles I. It turns out the actual area had been a public meeting place for over 800 years, but the actual pub itself wasn't founded until the 17th century. Either way, obviously, I loved it. Filled with locals, the building was amazing on its own. The live music was nothing short of awesome. "The Naked Bear" played pretty much every popular song that a drunk person would sing along to. Everything from Journey to Blink-182 and MGMT to Lady Gaga. Their version of Bad Romance was actually really good, but the one song that got everyone singing was Little Lion Man. It is now its suck in my head, and has been for the whole weekend. If you haven't heard the song before...go youtube it now. As the night started to come to an end, everyone started to get really hungry. Jessie, Kerry and I ventured back to the hostel and a pizzeria across the street from our home was letting off an amazing smell. We poked our heads inside and it just got better learning that garlic bread and pizza make for wonderful food after a night at the pubs.
Waking up on Saturday was a long process. There was no hangover involved, but I was just extremely tired after getting only three hours of sleep. It didn't matter though, because we were going to see the Cliffs of Moher. Jessie found this amazing tour company that leaves from Galway and goes all around the area stopping pretty frequently at major historical sites. So again, I loved it. We drove by this one castle that was only accessible when there is low tide. Thanks to modern engineering they connected the quasi-island to the mainland but it was extremely cool. We also stopped at a ring fort which was an actual manmade hill formed into a ring in the earth. Apparently leprechauns lurk inside the circle so going off the trail on the ridge is quite risky. The tour made a stop in Doolin for lunch where we all ate at this small little pub in the village. I got the beef and Guinness stew which was amazing. It was such a simple dish but it tasted so good.
Finally after much anticipation and excitement, we drove over to the famous Cliffs of Moher. Even though you may not realize it, you have all seen these cliffs at least once and quite probably two times. For one the background to the blog is a picture of the cliffs themselves. Also, in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the cave that Harry and Dumbledore go to is at the base of the Cliffs of Moher. Although those are both amazing shots of this natural wonder, the pictures do not do them justice. It is absolutely breathtaking, for both its sheer beauty and for the feeling you get when you look over the edge 700 feet down to the crashing waves. We ventured in both directions around the rock face, taking pictures at every angle as if the cliffs were going to magically change. But I am proud to say that Jessie and I found the Harry Potter cave. We spotted it from O'Brien's Tower, the nineteenth-century tower placed on the highest point on the cliffs. As amazing as it was, we were all fearing for our lives considering the strong wind. You could jump and get carried a foot or two towards the edge. For that reason when we did the token jumping picture, we started a good fifteen feet from the drop off. Although no one wanted to leave the cliffs, we had to get back to our bus driver and tour guide Desmond who was on a very tight schedule with us. We made one more stop on the way back to Galway and we thought it'd be a good idea to build a pyramid...with fifteen people. We got three stable rows down perfectly. Then someone started to climb to start the fourth row, and our pyramid started to crumble. Being on the bottom row was not enjoyable.
Last night we ended up, yet again, at the King's Head. We drank before back at the hostel with some guys from Spain and taught them our vast supply of drinking games. The music at the pub did not disappoint either. It wasn't the same band as the night before but they hit on pretty much all the same classics. Sticking to tradition, we also found ourselves getting pizza. The only thing was, I had a good amount of alcohol in me and I had almost completely lost my voice from all the singing at King's Head. It was apparently, according to Jessie, a conversation of epic proportions. Like yesterday morning, getting up today was indeed quite the production. But we got breakfast and ventured off into the city to see what it actually looked like in the day time. We were touristy walking up and down Shop Street, which is literally lined with shops and we went down to the water to see the docks and the Spanish Arch. The cathedral in Galway is amazing. I got one picture of the outside and then my camera died. So that was a bit of a let down. As the day continued on we all started to make our way to the bus station. Having survived an amazing weekend in Galway, I find myself sitting in my room, still a little hoarse, but ready for whatever is next.
FMS
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Well Thats Just Corky
It was the first weekend after classes started and the workload was already starting to pile up...so I went to Cork. Max was driving down for a friends 21st birthday, and I had many friends to visit, so I jumped at the opportunity and rode shotgun all the way through the Irish countryside on one fine Saturday morning. It really did, in some places, look like the movies: absolutely green everywhere and you could see for miles. We didn't have to pass through any cities on the motor-way which was really nice so we saw all green, all the time. On a side note, I saw something very peculiar in almost all of the fields: colored sheep. But these weren't just black or white, many of the wooly mammals had a red or green stripe on their back. Now this was either a way of marking one's sheep, which would just be as easy with a collar, or they were all victims of the rising phenomena of sheep graffiti. My money is on the latter.
While I am extremely happy to be in Dublin, Cork is an amazing city. The weather was great the whole time we were there (something to be savored in Ireland). It has the perfect mix of modern culture and historic tradition. The campus of the university has a really nice castle plopped down right in the middle. Apparently if you walk through the main archway in the castle, and over the school's crest, you will either get pregnant or fail your exams at the end of term. Now considering that its bad luck to believe in superstitions, I went for it. I think I have a leg up on the curse though, because I will obviously not be getting pregnant and we don't have exams this term...just term papers. So take that century old legend!
Apparently it was also one of my friends' friend's birthday too. I felt bad crashing the party considering I didn't know the guy at all...but I wasn't the only stranger there. But, for those of you counting, this is the second person I have met at their own birthday. So for Gavin's 20th, Jessie and I made him a Guinness birthday cake. We had already had a few drinks by the time we started baking it, so we weren't holding high expectations. With that being said, we used a devil's food cake mix and the metric system. Let me just say, the metric system is obnoxious, especially when your recipe is in the system that we use back home. Making the cake was easy.
Step 1. Open bag. Empty Contents. (Betty Crocker must think we're brain dead)
Step 2. Add eggs.
Step 3. Add water and oil.
Step 4. Add Guinness.
The fourth and final step was a creative adjustment Jessie and I made at the last minute. Originally it was just going to be a chocolate cake with Guinness frosting, but why not?! The frosting, however, was a whole battle in its own. Jessie's recipe was in ounces. All we knew it was a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to butter. So we dumped everything in the bowl and started to whisk. We think we had the right proportions, but we just went by taste. In goes the orange zest...and it was a lot of orange zest. So we diluted the orange power blast with some Guinness. Then some more Guinness. And finally, a little more Guinness. In the end, it actually turned out great. Jessie said that she has to show us a real Guinness cake, but there's nothing wrong with this one!! Kerry soon got the call that Gavin was on his way, and everyone started to hide...which made no sense at all cause he knew we were all there. Any-who, after a few rounds of drinking games we went out to the bars for Gavin's twentieth.
The following morning I found myself at Eddie Rockets with all my Cork buddies. I didn't randomly wake up there, but nothing of interest happened up until that point. Now Eddie Rockets...is the exact same thing as Johnny Rockets; just a different name. After splitting a crazy student deal with Kerry, which amounted to a burger, fries and drink for five euro (really good!), we walked back to their place. Max was also ready to hit the road and hit the road we did. The drive back was just as nice as the ride down, especially because there was no rain at all. Max made great time on the motor-way making it back to Howth just in time for dinner!
Well ought to be getting to bed now. Hope to talk to you all soon!
FMS
While I am extremely happy to be in Dublin, Cork is an amazing city. The weather was great the whole time we were there (something to be savored in Ireland). It has the perfect mix of modern culture and historic tradition. The campus of the university has a really nice castle plopped down right in the middle. Apparently if you walk through the main archway in the castle, and over the school's crest, you will either get pregnant or fail your exams at the end of term. Now considering that its bad luck to believe in superstitions, I went for it. I think I have a leg up on the curse though, because I will obviously not be getting pregnant and we don't have exams this term...just term papers. So take that century old legend!
Apparently it was also one of my friends' friend's birthday too. I felt bad crashing the party considering I didn't know the guy at all...but I wasn't the only stranger there. But, for those of you counting, this is the second person I have met at their own birthday. So for Gavin's 20th, Jessie and I made him a Guinness birthday cake. We had already had a few drinks by the time we started baking it, so we weren't holding high expectations. With that being said, we used a devil's food cake mix and the metric system. Let me just say, the metric system is obnoxious, especially when your recipe is in the system that we use back home. Making the cake was easy.
Step 1. Open bag. Empty Contents. (Betty Crocker must think we're brain dead)
Step 2. Add eggs.
Step 3. Add water and oil.
Step 4. Add Guinness.
The fourth and final step was a creative adjustment Jessie and I made at the last minute. Originally it was just going to be a chocolate cake with Guinness frosting, but why not?! The frosting, however, was a whole battle in its own. Jessie's recipe was in ounces. All we knew it was a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to butter. So we dumped everything in the bowl and started to whisk. We think we had the right proportions, but we just went by taste. In goes the orange zest...and it was a lot of orange zest. So we diluted the orange power blast with some Guinness. Then some more Guinness. And finally, a little more Guinness. In the end, it actually turned out great. Jessie said that she has to show us a real Guinness cake, but there's nothing wrong with this one!! Kerry soon got the call that Gavin was on his way, and everyone started to hide...which made no sense at all cause he knew we were all there. Any-who, after a few rounds of drinking games we went out to the bars for Gavin's twentieth.
The following morning I found myself at Eddie Rockets with all my Cork buddies. I didn't randomly wake up there, but nothing of interest happened up until that point. Now Eddie Rockets...is the exact same thing as Johnny Rockets; just a different name. After splitting a crazy student deal with Kerry, which amounted to a burger, fries and drink for five euro (really good!), we walked back to their place. Max was also ready to hit the road and hit the road we did. The drive back was just as nice as the ride down, especially because there was no rain at all. Max made great time on the motor-way making it back to Howth just in time for dinner!
Well ought to be getting to bed now. Hope to talk to you all soon!
FMS
Friday, October 1, 2010
TGIF?
So the first week of classes is officially over, but man do they hit the ground running here! I'm already buried up to my nose in reading and I think I'm going to Cork tomorrow. That really shows where my priorities are! Just gonna quickly run through all my courses, but then I promise I won't do it again unless it's something thats blog-worthy. As most weeks tend to, this week began with Monday. Caught the DART in to town and headed off to "A Cognitive Neuropsychological Approach to Drug Addiction". For future reference, although the full name is cool, that will probably be shortened to the "drug class". We soon learned Trinity seemed to violate numerous fire codes when we found out how many people were enrolled in the course and how much space was in the room...there were no aisles, just rows of desks with no gaps. If there was a fire, we would have been screwed. Thankfully, we made it out of that death trap of a room and apparently the lecture has been changed to a new room.
Tuesday began with Developmental Psychology. Sticking to the norm of the discipline, what else would my lecturer lecture on but the nature vs. nurture debate? Who knew?! It's both!! I have lost track as to how many times I've heard this discussion. Professors always say that there are some scholars that think its one over the other, well apparently not because every professor I have had has always right in the middle! That afternoon I had my first lecture in Irish history. There is an old man in my class. Come to think of it there are many old people in my class. But this old man, this old man is a piece of work. He acts like he is all buddy-buddy with the professor and speaks like he thinks that he is a walking encyclopedia. I can't wait to get into a debate with him.
Just a heads up, class times are really weird. I have some classes on back to back days, but at different times. Anyway, Wednesday morning began with another discussion of, you guessed it, nature vs. nurture. There really isn't that much more to say about that. But I had Irish history again that afternoon with a different lecturer (apparently team teaching is a big thing). Now this professor is pretty old fashioned and one thing that he values is being on time, which is odd because he arrived late. But to make his point that he would always start the lecture on the hour, he started talking before he walked through the door to the lecture hall. It didn't take me long to realize that lecture would begin regardless of whether or not Professor Brady was in-front of a class.
Yesterday was a nice day. I had my first class of Renaissance Florence and our professor proceeded to transport us back to our childhood years. We played a name game. The class had twenty people and I felt like I was back in fourth grade. After explaining the course of the course he let us out early warning us that the teeth pulling starts next week. Just a side note about Dr. Ditchburn, one of my friends who has had him before described him as a leprechaun that could not stand still for the duration of a lecture. I completely agree with her.
Seeing that I have no class on Fridays, today was a very nice day. I also realized that it had been a long time since I have wandered Dublin. So I caught a late DART into town and wandered the Trinity campus. The buildings are absolutely amazing just to look at and some of them date back to the eighteenth century. I avoided the bell tower though, as it was close to the hour and walking under the chiming bell could cause failure on any exams. But then the Irish do say its bad luck to be superstitious of anything.
Well I am completely shattered and need to get some sleep. Thanks for following guys!!
FMS
Tuesday began with Developmental Psychology. Sticking to the norm of the discipline, what else would my lecturer lecture on but the nature vs. nurture debate? Who knew?! It's both!! I have lost track as to how many times I've heard this discussion. Professors always say that there are some scholars that think its one over the other, well apparently not because every professor I have had has always right in the middle! That afternoon I had my first lecture in Irish history. There is an old man in my class. Come to think of it there are many old people in my class. But this old man, this old man is a piece of work. He acts like he is all buddy-buddy with the professor and speaks like he thinks that he is a walking encyclopedia. I can't wait to get into a debate with him.
Just a heads up, class times are really weird. I have some classes on back to back days, but at different times. Anyway, Wednesday morning began with another discussion of, you guessed it, nature vs. nurture. There really isn't that much more to say about that. But I had Irish history again that afternoon with a different lecturer (apparently team teaching is a big thing). Now this professor is pretty old fashioned and one thing that he values is being on time, which is odd because he arrived late. But to make his point that he would always start the lecture on the hour, he started talking before he walked through the door to the lecture hall. It didn't take me long to realize that lecture would begin regardless of whether or not Professor Brady was in-front of a class.
Yesterday was a nice day. I had my first class of Renaissance Florence and our professor proceeded to transport us back to our childhood years. We played a name game. The class had twenty people and I felt like I was back in fourth grade. After explaining the course of the course he let us out early warning us that the teeth pulling starts next week. Just a side note about Dr. Ditchburn, one of my friends who has had him before described him as a leprechaun that could not stand still for the duration of a lecture. I completely agree with her.
Seeing that I have no class on Fridays, today was a very nice day. I also realized that it had been a long time since I have wandered Dublin. So I caught a late DART into town and wandered the Trinity campus. The buildings are absolutely amazing just to look at and some of them date back to the eighteenth century. I avoided the bell tower though, as it was close to the hour and walking under the chiming bell could cause failure on any exams. But then the Irish do say its bad luck to be superstitious of anything.
Well I am completely shattered and need to get some sleep. Thanks for following guys!!
FMS
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