I'll be home for Christmas

And like a month after. So this is my last post on my Ireland blog. After this I'm going to make corrections and update and
edit my slideshows, and I'll post information about that on the central part of my blog so you know what to look for,
but since I''m now back in the US
(currently typing this up in the Chicago O'hare airport, I would post now, but they make you pay for a full day of internet, and
I'm only going to be here another hour, so that seems pointless. A recap of my day thus far,and it's a thirty hour day, per the time change.
I stayed up all night to get the train from Cork to Dublin that ran at 5:30, but you had to be there half an hour early,
and I had to get a cab from my place, so basically I had to be up at 4 and that wasn't going to happen if I went to bed. So
I went out with some friends, and we saw the movie Eragon which was Ok, I admit to snarky thoughts,
but some was really good. It was just a little long for my taste (but then again it's shorter than the lord of the ring movies, so after them nothing is to bad)
Then I finished some packing (so I thought) and went to the train station. There are of course some gaps in this telling, mostly to prevent
collapsion by boredom in you guys. So I found some of my friends from early start who were going on the same flight as me, and hung out with them and then
we got to Dublin and took the bus to the airport. I went to check in and the lady told me that my carry on was to heavy. But one of my bags was under so I did a
quick repack and my carryon was still to heavy and she was really snotty and I had to do a lot of repacking and in the end my carry on was still way over, but a different
lady was at the desk and I explained about the laptop and glass stuff (which the other lady was snotty about.) And she let me take it on as long as I put my laptop and some of
the heavier stuff under the seat in front of me, which I was totally okay with. So there snotty lady. Anyways. I finally got to security (45 before my plane was due to take off)
I put my stuff through and they thought they saw scissors, so they opened my bag which was rather carefully packed to accomodate everything and I had to stuff it all in, such fun.
And then run through the pre customs booth ( I don't get it but whatever) and then stand around for 10 minutes and then get on my plane, which then sat on the run way for an extra half hour
but that was okay since at least I didn't have to stand or hold anything heavy. Then we took off and I slept till the meals came back. YAY pasta. And then I slept some more till about an hour before
we landed, and then they brought out scones, so that was good. Then we landed. I went through customes claimed luggage moved it over to United. And then I took the tram over to my terminal, where I now am
And where they have starbucks and Cinnabon. I am currently pondering going and getting some, but I would have to carry all my carry on stuff over. So I'll type up how that goes later.

Later: I skipped the cinnabon, but got a pizza just for those of you who are interested in how that went. I have been home for 2 days now, so am somewhat over my jet lag. My plane from Chicago to KC was delayed a bit, but I made it there in the end, and my mom and dad and sister got my luggage so that was great. And then we went over to my Aunt Denise and Uncle Marvin's house to stay. It was pretty late and I was really tired so I just went to bed. We got up in the morning and had breakfast with them and then went to lunch (I finally had Mexican food:) and then back to my Aunt Erin and Uncle John's before heading home. 5 hours in car after whole day + of travel is not very fun. But there were malts and stuff so it wasn't too horrible. We got back home at about 10 and I went to bed. So that is the end of my travels until next month. I'll post my pictures of Cork later since I'm going to be cleaning up my slides then and I don't have time now. Happy holidays everybody.

It stopped Raining

For like half a day. It was glorious. I got some pictures in and did my Christmas shopping. And pulled a muscle in my calf which did not make me inclined tohaul my laptop over to the school. So Pictures will wait till Saturday when I can hopefully use airport internet. Fun. Like I said before this is not my most interesting of weeks. I'm all about trying to shove everything + back into my suitcases. Almost have it now though. Sadly this means tomorrow and Friday I will have absolutely nothing to do. On the bright side everyone else is almost finished with their stuff too, and I'll have people to play with:)

Let it rain...

After today I have absolutely nothing I HAVE to do at a specific time. Oh yes a week of nothing. Ok, I still have to finish and turn in this last essay today, so no more post for now. It looks like it's clearing up some, so maybe I will get in some pictures this week. And I am working on the new look for my KG blog, you lucky ducks you, I might get it finished before I actually get there this time.

Getting good at judging breaks in rain

But not quite good enough, got rained on, on the way home yesterday since I thought I had time to drop by Tesco and I didn't quite. Still writing essays and studying. Still raining. Probably no post tomorrow since I have a test. Maybe Friday. I have to come over to the school to work on my second essay anyway. That one is not due till monday though, and part of it is self stuff, so I can do that at home over the weekend. Yay. Definitely post on Monday afternoon or Tuesday and possibly pictures if there are long enough rain breaks with enough light during the next few days. Only 10 more days in Ireland. Although given my luck all that sunshine you guys are getting now will stop and it will start raining there (hey it's rained at least once in every country I've been to so far.) If anyone knows a good anti rain dance I would be glad to try it out here, and I'm sure the rest of the people here would agree.

Short break in rain

But it will be back. Seriously I'm not sure how this country is not underwater yet. I'm doing essays and studying now, so not a lot of time to type or edit, I'll try to make up for it next Tuesday, and I'll have plenty of time while travelling next Saturday, although I'm not sure I'll have a lot of energy as I get to be up for the 5:30 train. And then like 20 hours of travelling, it ought to be fun. But at the end there're people to carry my luggage for me, and that makes me happy. Also no cobble stones to roll over. Cobble stones are pretty, but not very fun with rolly luggage, or when wearing heels. And candy canes and malls, okay the things I miss are a little weird, but you would miss malls too if you had to go out in the rain repeatedly since all the stores are separate. I managed to get all my shopping done and most of the way up hill during a break in the rain on Saturday, so that was good. Hopefully I can make it home in a break today. And maybe some day in the next couple of weeks it will stop raining for more than an hour and I can get my Cork pictures.

It finally stopped raining.

Although I don't have anything that interesting to talk about. I just went home and took a shower and watched movies with a roll of cookies yesterday. Good times in Ireland. And now onwards into the essay writing. 2 3,00 word essays, and an hour inclass exam and then I'm done. And onwards into packing up and heading home for Christmas. Save me some candy canes, for some reason they don't seem to have them here, or gingerbread. Although fruit cakes and mince pies they have aplenty. I'm still not entirely sure what a mince pie is, anyone?

I'm not singing in the rain..

If i opened my mouth i'd probably drown. Bleagh. Anyway, no posts tomorrow if it is still raining here. I'm doing what I was tempted to do today and staying in bed all day with a book and tea. And a double pack of jammie dodgers :) It's cold and everything is flooding, so I guess it's good I live up a hill, although normally when I'm walking up it I do not use the word good to describe it. I'm going home to huddle next to the radiator (ok it's probably warmer here than it is in Oklahoma, none the less I don't like being wet and cold). I'll write again once I have developed the webbed feet necessary to get through this mess.

Side Note

I'm moderating comments, so they won't post till I proof them, sorry for the confusion.
Also when I get back I'm setting up a family blog, so everyone who wants to join in, send your e-mail address to my e-mail for this account. That way everone can make posts and stuff, although I am still doing my separate main blog for Kansai Gaidai.

So much for good intentions

I did fix some of my Paris pictures up into my photobucket account, but I still have to sort through a whole lot of them and I lacked the enthusiasm to do all that today, and tomorrow and Thursday have classes. I'll try to get some of it done over the weekend, but pretty much it's going to have to wait till after the 11th due to essays and tests. I'll publish some pictures of Cork all dressed up for Christmas in the interval, when I get a chance on a day that it's not raining. It starts getting dark here at 4:30, and I'm not sure if my camera can handle it after dark, but I'll try, and if not, I'll do it during the weekend since the library is closed then anyway.

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh..

Or not since my sinus infection has turned into a head cold. Bleagh. Ah well, I have plenty of kleenex and orange juice, and no where I HAVE to be until class on Wedensday. I did walk over to school since I promised updates today, see how much I care about you guys? Anyway here is a recap and pictures, I'll start with my London/Paris pics since I already did a recap for that.(I'm having some technical difficulties getting some of my Paris pics up, but I'll work on it, and try to get them up tomorrow, and put up what I already have today)

And now for a recap of Italy.
We flew in on Thursday night, and got there around 1 AM their time. Then we took a bus to the city center, since we were going to head down to Venice since we had to fly back out of Rome. So we got to the train station only to find out, that A) Apparently there are no buses to Venice from Rome, and B) the trains weren't going to start running till 5, so we got to spend a lovely 4 hours in the Rome train station. There were some amusing things, the cops there have Sedgeways, and they had races on them in the hallway, and they had this really cool water store, that sold all these different types of bottled water, some in really cool bottles. Finally the trains were running again and we took off to Venice. We were both kind of sleepy, and it was siesta anyways, so we went to check into our B and B. We took a little nap, and then went for a walk around, and got some groceries. I love that grocery store, I got gelato, pasta, a bag of cookies for later, some biscotti, a bottle of rose frizzante, and a few other things all for under 7 euro. We had dinner and then went to bed, since we wanted to get up early the next day, and it was to foggy to do any more sightseeing. The next day we went on a water taxi to San Marco cathedral, and just walked around. Which is probably the main reason I love Venice, you don't feel like you have to run around and look at monuments and museums, not that I don't enjoy that, but after two weeks straight of it, it can get a bit tiring. Mostly it's a big shopping town, there were tons of street vendors and stores, and lots of places with really good food. So that was a fun day. I was going to use mainly Nicole's pictures, but there was a camera accident, so a lot of our Venice pictures got deleted. We stayed at the same hotel, and went back to the train station the next day to go back to Rome. Rome was cool as well. We went and saw the colloseum, and walked around the area where the national gallery was, and had dinner and gelato the first night. We went to Saint Peter's Basilica the next day, as the Sistine chapel was closed. Apparently it closes at noon. The Basilica was closed as the Pope was having some sort of meeting in there, but that was okay, we went and ate and when we came back he was leaving, so we got some cool pictures, and the swiss guards were out as well, but my pictures of that aren't as good as Nicole's so I'll post her's later. We got to go in the Basilicca after that. It was really pretty, but a horrible place to take pictures in. The lighting was really difficult. Our hotel that day was by the Trevi fountain, so we got a lot of good pictures of that, and we did end up going to the Sistine chapel since it opens early, and we had a little time before our flight the next day. So that was really cool, you aren't supposed to take pictures in the actual chapel part, like the Mona Lisa, I guess it takes to much time, and it was REALLY crowded in there. Sooo... Ask me about that one when I get home, as I am not sure how strongly they want that one enforced. Anyway, Rome was good, lots of pizza, gelato, historical monuments, and art. After that we went home, I went to bed as we didn't get in till 10 and I had class the next day. Which I went to, and then Thursday was Thanksgiving, so thank you guys for calling. I had class, but only one that day. And I was going to do this on Friday, but sinus infection + jet lag prevailed and mainly I stayed in bed and slept over the weekend, with a brief stop for groceries. I'm going to get some pics of downtown Cork all decked out for Christmas if it stops raining, and here are some of my Italy pictures(not all, and not sorted very well, as I have a bit of time constraint here today, but I still have that time in a couple weeks where I've got basically a free week, so I'll try to get everything sorted out and pretty before I get home).

Pictures and Full blog tomorrow I promise

I would do it today, but as it is Sunday the school is closed so I can't take my laptop over there. I know I said I would get them done Friday, but as soon as I stopped moving I got a horrible sinus infection. So Friday was rather awful. And like I said the school is closed on the weekend. Lickily I don't have classes till Wedensday, and I need to work on some essays anyway. Only 3 weeks left in Ireland. So I'll see you guys soon.

Back in Cork

So tired. Class all day. Will post full stories and Pics either tomorrow or Friday. Actually, if I do my essays a little early, after my in class test on the 7th I am done. I don't actually have any classes to go to after that, I just have to get my essays turned in by the 11th. So I might go through and revamp this before I go home. And if I feel really enthusiastic, maybe I will get my Japan blog set up then too. Better than trying to cram all the stuff I brought and the stuff I got here into suitcases. Stupid laws of physics. Ah well, I'm sure with enough effort it can be done. And you guys don't want any presents right;p. I have class between 3 and 5 tomorrow and I'm on Greenwhich mean time, so for those of you who want to call me check what time it is here please. Happy Thanksgiving.

Going to Italy

So no posts for a bit, and same contact rules as last time... Text or e-mail unless it's an emergency.

Typed up last night...

So much for my shower and nap...
Apparently the greater part of the Louvre closes at 6,
so I headed there as soon as I checked in and dropped my bag off
at my hotel. It was awesome. A lot of things have not lived up to
my expectations, or been different than I imagined they would be.
The Louvre totally surpassed them. So cool. Sadly you are not
allowed to take pictures in the Italian painters wing, so no
pictures of the Mona Lisa ;) Or any other Da Vinci, Botticelli,
or basically good rennaisance paintings. You're allowed to take
pictures of most other stuff though, and most of the statues are
in the open (Apparently they did not learn from the incident with
that Michelangelo Pieta in Vatican City?)
But it does make photography easier. The lighting is a bit weird in there though.
Anyways, I took tons of pictures of the paintings and statues, and it was really
great. I do find it slightly amusing that the security to get into the Louvre
was stricter than the security to get into the country.
After all the walking I did in the Louvre I was pretty tired though
and it was getting dark, so I went back to my hotel. Plus I needed thr sleep since
I was going to Versaille the next morning. So I got up and headed out
there, and got to stand in a 2 hour line for tickets, half the place was closed,
nearly including the gardens, since the fountains were off, the
statues were mostly covered, and they were replanting so there was tons of construction going on.
So, skip that if you go to France in the winter. I had to catch the bus back to London
that day, so I didn't really have a lot of time to do anything else (had lunch at this really good place
though) I had a bit of confusion on the whole station thing, but I made it, and got back to London.
I went to drop off my stuff at my hostel, and then decided that as cool as the national gallery would be,
it couldn't be as cool as the louvre so it would be better to hold off to some time
when I didn't have that as a recent comparison. Ditto the British Museum, although I probably would
have caved on that one if it wheren't so far away from everything els I wanted to do. I went window shopping instead.
Topshop was really cool, and I keep reading about it everywhere, I also went to this place called
Whittards and bought tea as my souveneir (they do coffee too, but Europe coffee is scarily strong)
Then I went back to the hostel for a couple of hours of nap time since I didn't want to fall asleep
during spamalot, and I was still messed up by the drammamine I took for the ferry crossing (I didn't take it the first time
and that was a bad idea). I went to pick up my ticket, and then I went to the pizza hut across the street for dinner
(Not a lot of time, and England is not really known for cooking anyway, although I am quite fond of Nigella Lawson)
Spamalot was AMAZING. I think that the American version has to be at least a little different though.
I want to see that one just for David Hyde Pierce, but Time Curry was really good, so it was cool.
And the theater itself was really awesome, all these crazy cherubs all over in the decorating. Also you can buy spam sandwiches
in the lobby, which I considered, as all the preservatives would probably make it last longer than the
shirt I got will, but you can't import meat products, and there
might still be some in there somewhere. Plus all the other
vegetarians would look at me funny. Anyway, That was fun (more fun than Versaille)
No spoilers though. So I went back to the hostel after that, and got up and went back to Cork today. I've got class tomorrow, and then
Thursday I'm off to Italy. I can't do my Edinburgh trip though, as the girl I was going to go with are going
on a weekend I have school stuff. Which is probably a good thing, since
my trip to England ended up costing about double what I thought it would anyway. (stupid exchange rate)
Ah well, if you want more details about my trips, ask when I get home, since
I am leaving out tons of details, due to forgetting, time constraint, and
trying to keep this PG for Delaney (shout out) Also I am occasionally leaving
out pictures, for various reasons, such as, too blurry, or I don't like how I look in them, or no time to post them all , and then i forget
so if you think you can handle the overload, ask and I'll burn you a DVD of them.


Today I've got class and packing and stuff, so I'm going to wait to post all my pictures till next week when I'll have time to organise them all. Although don't expect any till next Friday at the earliest, as I already need to catch up sleep and laundry. On the bright side Italy is supposed to be all warm and sunny, so at least I have a chance of escaping the rain.

Any typos are the fault of crazy French keyboard

And that I was encouraged to do touch typing (where encouraged means forced) to learn touch typing as a child. I am being nice and erasing though. since I have some time to kill and thought what better place than a French internet cafe where the keyboards are French, and no one speaks English (and mostly no French either) Ah well. So, let's catch up on what's been going on shall we (no question mark on keyboard :() No pictures till Tuesday, but I can type it up so I only have to recap a little then. Cliffs of Moher and ring of Kerry I've covered. Then I had class all dqy Wedensday, and on Thursday volunteering and class before leaving for London. I got there at around ten and then had to take a bus to Victoria station which took till 12 and then I took a cab to my hostel which was ridiculously expensive (as I found out that all of London is, although the exchange rate is largely to blame for that) I got to my hostel and went to bed and then got up the next morning at 7:30 in order to get dressed, check out, and make it to the London eye on time (actually I got there early, but that's okay) I went on that which was really cool and I took a lot of pictures. Then I walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern museum which was neat. They have an exhibit which is really long slides that you can actually go in. Also a lot of surrealist stuff. After that I walked to Shakespeare's Globe which was pretty close. That was also neat, although most of it was closed since the play season is over, but some of it was open for pictures and they had some cool stuff in the gift shop. Then I went back up along the Victoria Enbankment to the tube and went to Picadilly Circus. That's where the Eros statue is, as well as the Waterstones that is the biggest bookstore in Europe, so I had to spend some time in there. I went shopping on some other places along Picadilly (there is also a market there) and by that time it was six and starting to get dark, plus my feet where tired and I wanted dinner. So I took the bus to Victoria Station and had some dinner and read, I had to be there at 7 anyways to check in for the coach to Paris, so that was alright. I'll describe that fun trip later. So I got to Paris at 6 this morning (Paris time) and went to find my hotel to leave some of my luggage. I did that and since check in isn't till noon and it was only 8 I decided I had time to see the eiffel tower. It's raining so I didn't go up in it. (I learned the fun rain and heights not mixing thing at Blarney) I did get some pictures when there was a little break in the downpour. Then I came back to the street my hotel is on and got some breakfast (oh eclairs how I love you, and how cheap you are in France, and yummy baguettes and chocolate croissants) And walked through the market going on along this road. And now I'm here typing, waiting till noon when I can check in, take a shower, and get in a half hour nap before heading over to the Louvre. I wanted to go to versaille today as the travelling to and from there takes some time and I have to catch the bus back to London tomorrow, but apparently I picked the one Saturday they are closed, so I have to go tomorrow and cut it a little shorter than I would have liked. Still maybe it will be sunny tomorrow and I can get some good pictures of the gardens. I'm really excited to see spamalot on Monday, although I am sad that I won't see David Hyde Pierce in it since he's in the one in New York. Ah well, it will still be good. I'll probably still be singing stuff from it when I get back. I've also got to go to the British Museum (and National Gallery if I can fit it in and am not sick of art by that time) and then Tuesday I'm going back to Cork for Wedensday classes and Thursday I'm going to Italy with my friend Nicole. Am I almost sick of trabvelling, well not quite, but I am taking a week off of it when I get back, I might do a short trip to Edinburgh the next week, although that one is still up in the air.

Hectic

I'll keep it short since I have about 2 minutes. I'm leaving for London tonight after class. I'll try to post stuff while I'm there. No calls please, except for emergencies, but texts are ok. I'll also try to check my e-mail about once a day, so you can do that if it's not to urgent.

Bleh

Brief recap since I don't want to retype the whole thing, and I don't have time for slides today. So we were stuck in Limerick with the option of going home or spending the night at the cliffs of moher, neither of which was very appealing. We decided that the only thing to do was rent a car. So we hopped on the bus to Shannon Airport where the car rental places live. We found out that the driving age for rental cars is 23 here, so Nicole got to be driver. Also apparently automatic is hugely expensive. So learn standard if you want to rent a car here. We went to the Cliffs of Moher that day and got there around sunset (6 PM) We got some good pictures in before that though. Then we went back to Cork since we hadn't packed for an overnight trip. We went to the Dingle Peninsula the next day and then drove down to Killarney and stopped for the night in Killorigan. We got up early the next day and went round the ring of Kerry and then back to Cork. and on Tuesday morning we turned the car back in. So, it was fun, there are lots of pictures that I will post when I've got time, and lots of road trip stories I will probably wait till I get back to tell, as they don't translate well to text.

Try again

Ok, I had this post all set up except the slide show and then my computer crashed. Sadly I don't have enough battery left to redo it, so I'll type up events tomorrow and leave you with the Cliffs of Moher pics. (Yes I should have saved it, but I was distracted by the fact that Josh Groban did a music video of some of the songs on his new album. Soooooo pretty)

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Rounabouts and roundabout again...

or one bad turn deserves another. So, This was an interesting weekend. On Friday I spent the night at my friend Nicole's place since we were going to get up early and go to the Cliffs of Moher. So we took the 10 bus to Limerick and thought we could catch the bus to the cliffs of Moher. This inevetably turned out badly, but the weekend was much more interesting because of it. I'll type up the whole thing tomorrow, along with a ton of pictures, but right now I'm on the paid internet. Plus I need to go finish my laundry since I've got class Wedensday, and on thursday I've got volunteering in the morning and class before I leave so tonight is my only night to pack.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Apparently since they lack Thanksgiving around here they go straight from Halloween to Christmas. The restraunt on my street was putting up wreaths all over the front this morning, I'll try to get some pictures when it's done. I'm slightly worried that I may crack under the extra month of Christmas cheer. I'm already starting to long for all the Christmas movies I normally watch and break out the Christmas music. But I think I will content myself with making gingerbread and fudge sometime this weekend. At least I don't have to make the tough desicion of whether or not to go to the after Thanksgiving sales, and the inevitable sadness when I think of the poor massacre of turkeys. Although I would like a can of jellied cranberry sauce (they only have the kind in jars that's whole berry, which apparently what cranberry sauce is supposed to be, but I like my sauce that retains the shape of the can, what can i say). Maybe I'll get some of the other American students that are vegetarian together for a vegetarian Thanksgiving (there were 8 vegetarians in my Early start class alone, so it would work). Ah well, it at least feels like autumn now, I've started bringing a coat along in addition to wearing sweaters, it's only in the 50's and apparently that's where it's going to stay, but it gets a bit windy and it's always a bit damp since we're on a river. Apparently they do radiators here instead of central heating (I knew that about the house I was staying at, but I didn't know it was everybody)which makes the heat a bit either overpowering close to, or nonexistent if you get to far away. It's a tough desicion. Usually it's best to just bring an extra sweater to class and get out from it a bit.

So much for doing something exciting

I decided that i needed a nap after class more than excitement, and then after dinner I read for a bit and went back to bed. I did get up early today and go swimming, so that was fun. And the sauna was open this time, so i hung out in there for a while afterwards. Around the time I was leaving all these kids showed up for lessons, so i'm glad i went early. After that i had lunch and now I'm doing this before I go to class in a little while. That's about as exciting as today's going to get I think. Saturday ought to be good though, so I'll try to bring my laptop over to the school Monday and post all my pictures.

Still No Rain :)

It's a bit chilly, but warmer than this morning when I was walking to class. I only have a little bit of time since I've got another class in a little bit. Halloween was a bit disappointing, so I really didn't have to tear myself away to go home early. Maybe because it was a weekday? Today is class all day, but tomorrow my class isn't till afternoon, so I might go swimming, since it's right by the Mardyke center. I'll try to do something interesting, but don't count on it.

Entry in 2 parts

Okay, this one was prewritten, since I couldn't actually post on holidays.
So, since I have unlimited time, I'm gonna do a long post this time.
Apparently today is daylight savings so I get an extra hour. YAY!
So here is the hilights of my weekend (skipping Friday which mainly consisted
of trying to beat the Irish girl I'm living with to the bathroom as
we both had the same stomach bug). I felt better by Saturday afternoon,
so I went to this October Fest at the Fransiscan Well with my friend (the only Irish brewery in Cork,
still owned by the Irish, although technically they are a microbrewery).
There's a jazz festival going on outside of the October fests. They had all these imported beers from
Around Europe, including some from Amsterdam that were like 10%
alcohol, I skipped those as I really wasn't looking to be sick again.
They also had some fruit beers that weren't very alcoholic, I went with the Belgian Framboise(Raspberry)
That was actually pretty good. After that we had dinner at this Indian place (there's a lot of them around in Cork and they tend
to be the cheapest restraunts in Ireland, which isn't saying much as most restraunts here are seriously costly)
Then we kind of wandered around to all the places that had jazz concerts going
some were really good, although there were also some bands that weren't worth the walking and crowds.
Eventually we both went home (with a stop on my part at the All night Chinese take away for chips).
Also this weekend apparently was a circus, which was cool, since I was out on Thursday morning
with a friend who wanted a second opinion on these sweaters she wanted to buy, and while we
were in an accesory store we saw an elephant crossing the street (it used the crosswalk)
It was really cool, but unfortunately neither of us had a camera with us. Today I went out
with my friend Nicole, but all the shops were closed for holidays, so we went to the Mardyke Center (School gym kind of)
and I went swimming. I also went to Tesco and bought Jammie Dodgers which are amazing.
I will be sad when I go home and don't have those. Apparently I missed that it's daylight savings,
so I went home at 7 thinking it was 8. I stopped by the only internet cafe that was open to type up the last blog entry,
and currently I'm typing this, eating chocolate biscuits, and listening to Eddie Izzard-Definite Article
because I believe in multitasking. I'm pondering what to wear for halloween, the gothy kids have been
dressing up all weekend, but I think I'll wait for Tuesday (I'm trying to convince some other people
to go out trick or treating with me, cause when else am I gonna get to go trick
or treating in another country?). Now, since this isn't actually a very long blog entry I'm going to
do that list of differences between Ireland and the US (or at least Cork and Oklahoma) I promised earlier.
Food Stuff: There's a whole obsession with Pringles here, that I just don't get. They're everywhere (They have them in pubs in these
things like gumball machines, and they have
mini ones, as well as having gourmet (these come in crazy flavours) and dipping ones.
Cadbury :) They make totally random stuff and coat it all in chocolate (they also make
hot chocolate and cocoa.
Bisuits=crunchy cookies
Cakes=softer cookies, usually with filling as well as cakes
Fairy Cakes=cupcakes
Chips= french fries
Crisps=chips
Jelly=Jello
Jam=Jam and jelly
Smooth orange juice=pulp free
scones= they're actually more like biscuits than the hard triangular scones you get in the US
They actually use the word cookie, for chocolate chip cookies.
They have a lot of nestle stuff that you can't get in the US, like Aero bars, but
for some reason no chocolate chips.
You can get tea EVERYWHERE (including pubs, although that's primarily during the day) and the tea comes
in cool little tea pots most places. Also most places have juice and other stuff outside of soft drinks, which is nice.
Egg salad apparently involves onions and no mustard :( and for some reason all the premade sandwhiches in shops tend to have bacon, no matter
what the main ingredient is.
One nice thing though, is that everything without meet says suitable for vegetarians, which saves me a lot of time.
Also there is tons of good bread, and they do half loafs of sliced toast bread.
Tons of jam as well as nutella :)
Off license means they sell alcohol to take away. The Pubs all have outdoor sections now as you can no longer
smoke inside.
Also have the best butter. There's also the English market which is open all week except Sunday, which is like a farmers market,
except more meat than produce and it's all indoors (it rains A Lot here). Good place to get eggs and vegetables. but it also has some halls that have random stores like shoe repair
and craft supplys. For some reason the movie theater here has a machine that does coffee, tea, and soup. Soup and a movie is actually quite a good time.
Random Irish expressions:
Randomly say cheers (can mean thanks, can also be used sarcastically, and sometimes just used for no apparent reason) Although still used
more by the British.
Half-whatever= whatver time it is+thirty
Fairy=sneaky/tricky
Still use random British currency terms even though they're on the euro (like quid and fiver)
Craich(pronounced crack)If you are asked where it is, don't worry it just means fun.
There is also a lot of other random Irish that I cannot spell and still confuses me utterly, as well
as fun regional stuff. Regional accents are also rather confusing and can lead to lots of difficult to comprehend
conversations, but Cork and Dublin accents I've got down.
Shops:
Groceries : Tesco (cheapest on most things), Dunnes Store, Marks and Spencer (Expensive, but best lemonade) English Market (good for veggies, meat, eggs, some breads)
Convenience stores : Centra,Spar, individually owned things like them
Bookstores : Waterstones<3, Vibes and Scribes (Two of them, one also does used books), Easons (also sell art supplies, magazines, and stationary)
Reads (copy shop, discount books, magazines, writing stuff) Mainly murder (sells thrillers, and mysteries), Other Realms (sci fic, comics, and figurines)
Clothes : Penneys (cheapest, also sell linens, bath stuff, etc),
Marks and Spencer (more expensive), Some Dunnes Stores, Roches (closing), Lots of other individual shops
Music : Virgin Megastore, HMV, Individually owned shops
Electronics : If you know a GOOD electronice store you can tell me (lots of little individual ones, but no major stuff, which is somewhat suprising since Cork is the Europe
headquarters for Apple)
Phone stores : 02, Vodaphone, Meteor (best on prepaid, although I'm somewhat biased)
Tons of jewlry stores, and random one off stores.
I think I have figured out why a lot of stuff in Ireland is more expensive than in other countries in Europe : It all has to be imported, or if it's made here there's a minimum wage that has
to be paid to the workers who live here and have to pay for expensive stuff too. Also A lot of stuff, like magazines, are either British or American, American requires more shipping,
and the British pound is worth about double the euro.
Plus there's the VAT, which is preadded to the prices, it's actually like 20% here, but it's preadded into the listed prices, so at least that's one less thing
to work out when shopping (I get some of mine back :).
I quite like the euro, it comes in different colors, and sizes, and has a cool holographic strip.
It makes it easier to figure out when pulling cash out of wallet, but I'm not as big a fan of the coin stuff.
The euro 1 and 2 euros are coins, and then there are 50, 20, and 10 cent coins that are gold, and then
there are 1, 2, and 5 cent coins that are copper. and these are more difficult to work out when digging through the change in your wallet.
Also on keyboards here, most of the stuff is the same, but some keys are different, which totally messes up how fast I can type, and part of that is
the euro sign instead of @ on top of 2. It totally messes me up when I'm doing e-mails.
I have gotten used to walking everywhere, and the cars being on the other side of the road (left turns on red are okay here, you know who you are)
Also not having to attend as many lectures (my classes are 2 hours one time a week rather than 1 hour classes twice a week) as well as
not having any assigned homework, or quizzes to check up on how we're doing.
And apparently by the grading system in the humanities sections here 70 percent is really great.
I did have another fun suprise today when I went to the pool, apparently you HAVE to wear swimming caps here. So I got to go up to reception were it was freezing in my
swimsuit and buy one. It was fun to go to the pool and have everyone there be as pale as me :)
Another great thing about Ireland they have no : Mosquitoes, Poison snakes (or snakes at all),
Scorpions, Poison spiders, possums (creepy creepy possums)
They also don't have squirrels, but they do have Seagulls and pigeons.
I'm kind of used to the rain, most of the time it's just a constant drizzle, occasionally there's a downpour, and occasionally there is sun,
but most of the time it's drizzle. I've given up on umbrellas, after the 5th one io just decided it wasn't worth it, and I'll just use the school computers, or put my backpack under
my rain coat.
Stop
This part was written on Tuesday.
So yesterday was fun. I did absolutely nothing but read, and eat biscuits. Everything was closed for holidays, so I figured it wasn't worth it to go out. Today it's really windy out, but no rain. I'm thinking of going to Galway this weekend to see the Cliffs of Moher with my friend Nicole (who I'm going to Italy with) and next week I've got London and Paris, and then the week after that I'm going to Italy, so I've got a very busy schedule for a while. Today I've got a bunch of errands to run and tonight I'm going out to some Halloween stuff with friends. But I've got class tomorrow, so I can't stay out to late. I still have one weekend free (I've blocked out December since I've got class one Saturday, and I the 16th is out since I'm leaving then, and I wanted a weekend to get stuff done) that I think I'm going to go to Scotland in, but I haven't got my tickets yet, or talked to some of my friends who wanted to go to Scotland too, to see if they could go that weekend. So that's my schedule for the rest of the time. The exact details are not all set up, but I'm getting close. If I do go to Galway I'll take some pictures and you guys can see if you recognize them (hint: rewatch the Princess Bride, also I think I've talked about them earlier, but I'm not sure where).

Holidays

Sorry I couldn't post. I caught a flue bug from the Irish girl who lives with me, and was sick all Friday, but I was fine by Saturday afternoon. However, everything is closed thru Tuesday for holidays, so I couldn't go to any of my usual internet places, finally I just gave in and went to the expensive one that is open 24/7. However, that is cutting my time down. I probably will wait till Tuesday for more internet, so if anyone has any pressing stuff call instead of e-mail please. On the plus side the jazz festival is going on so there's a lot of stuff to do here this weekend. I'll probably post some of that on Tuesday too.

Today was nice

No rain, no class till 3. Happiness. I'm almost out of battery though, so that long post will have to wait another day. I got all my laundry done yesterday, which was good, my shoes are still wet though. It's getting kind of cold here now. Definitely coat weather. So Italy in a few weeks ought to be a nice change. I really wish I had a bath tub here since there is this store called lush that sells all kinds of really cool bath stuff. I really want to try this thing they have called a bubble bar, so I will probably bring one home with me. I'll write more tomorrow, since I'm doing all my hostel arrangements and stuff for England and Italy as well.

It's raining...again

And I had to get up and take a 3 hour test this morning (essay not multiple choice, so my hand kind of hurts) And then I had class for 2 hours, and I've gone through an outfit already, and once I go home I'm going to have to change again. Today has not been one of my happier Ireland days, although it is somewhat comforting to think that this would have been a sucky day anywhere, so it's not just culture shock. Also the room we took the test in was cool. There were chandeliers, seriously. While that did not make the actual test more enjoyable, it did make me feel slightly better about having to be up that early, and all the studying I've had to do this week. Also there were bookcases all over, I'll try to get a picture later and post it. Tomorrow I'm going to get to sleep in since my class isn't till 3 so that will be good. And I'll try to bring my laptop to school and do a longer post since it won't be timed internet. I was going to take it today, but I'm not sure how water proof the backpack I use for hauling it around is, and I've run out of umbrellas. Which is something I need to buy next time I go to Tesco. Anyways, I'm going to go home and eat and change into dry clothes (and maybe do some laundry, or at least throw everything in the dryer). Apparently this weekend is October fest in Ireland, as well as the pre-halloween parties and stuff so that ought to be fun. Maybe there will be people here on the weekend?

Sorry I was a bit cranky on Saturday

I've had this rather atrocius cold thing going on, which I am prepared to blame on Erin and her plane germs. I basically spent the last couple of days doing nothing but reading and eating chocolate biscuits (cookies). I did go see Marie Antoinette on Saturday with Nicole, we snuck in ice cream and massive amounts of other junk food, also the theater for some reason sells soup, so I got some of that. But after that I just went home and collapsed. I did get my room all picked up yesterday, which was good since I tend to be really messy when I'm sick. I'm going to Italy from November 16-21 with Nicole we're going to do 2 days each in Rome, Florence, and Venice. I also booked my trip to London from the 9th through 14th of November, I'm not missing any classes either since I booked the flights for after my class on Thursday and I get back on Tuesday so I can go to my Wedensday classes. I'm going to spend some of my London trip in Paris, as I can take a train or bus to get there (or ferry, but I'm not up for any more boats). I have my early start final tomorrow, so I didn't go anywhere this weekend, and I have studied for it some, and plan to do some more studying tonight. I might do something this weekend, but I'm not sure what yet. I will definitely be back in Cork for Halloween, since I am not exactly sure what to expect, but there are lots of parties and stuff being advertised around campus. I have to go study now, but I'll try to do a big post on Thursday.

No posts till someone comments

Blog on hiatus.

It was actually sunny today

It's getting cloudy again, but for a few hours, there was hope that maybe it wouldn't rain. I don't have any classes on Friday, so I went to the Library (Public, not school) and returned some books, and checked out a couple. I decided that with the influx of birthday money I could go shopping, which was fun, but took forever, since they have a 4 items per entry to dressing room rule. I still am not sure what sizes I wear here, and some items are a lot harder than others. I did get some cute stuff though, and I think I've got my size stuff down here for the most part. I also went to Marks and Spencers for some more lemonade. Seriously, it's almost as good as Simply Lemonade, but sadly they leave in pulp, so points are deducted. However, it is the only option outside of carbonated lemonade and anything is better than that. I'm thinking of going to Scotland and Wales next weekend if I can find a cheap way to do them both. I'm saving London as half of a trip to London and Paris. And Italy I'm doing all on it's own. I haven't got exact dates yet, since I'm going to Italy with my friend Nicole, I need to sort all the details of that one out with her. I'll probably do that tomorrow, or maybe Monday. I still have that Folklore final to study for too, but as we know basically what we are going to be asked, and the format, and since I'm used to essay exams from all those English classes, I think I will do okay on it. I'm gonna go home and take a nap now, since I'm going to the international student party thing tonight, and I'm kind of tired (could be the weather).

Another Blustery day in the Hundred Acre City

But the leaves are changing colors, so it's quite pretty. Nothing really happened yesterday, I went to class, and helped a friend set up a blog of her own. Today I did some laundry, actually straightened my hair, and then went outside and my hair went right back to it's poofy semicurly original stage. Oh Irish weather, how you do love to thwart me in my clothes and hair plans. (Weeping internally about poor suede flats) I found out when my final for early start is on the 25th of October. I also got all my enrollment stuff completely finalized (3 weeks into the semester) I'm probably going to go home and do more laundry tonight, tomorrow night is another international student club hosted party. Yay! Am not even going to try to take pictures though, as a) clubs are not really lit for that, and b)My poor camera is still acting a bit nuts. This weekend I'm not going anywhere, as I have that giant 3 hour final to study for, but I might spend some time working on blog and slideshow stuff. Probably not, but there is always hope. Maybe I'll got through and grammar/spell check. Plus I've been thinking of changing how some of the slide shows are laid out, so that's all on my list. Also doing a template for my Kansai Gaidai blog, so I don't have to do it at the last minute like I did with this one, at least I've managed to get most of the kinks out, and can work with the ones that are still here. If anybody else has any problems though, tell me and I'll work on it, since I only know how it looks in internet explorer.

More paperwork

I thought I was done with paperwork for school, but apparently not. It's okay though, they gave me 5 hours for my early start, so I only have to take 3 classes (that'll be 14 hours) and then I can take 15 hours in Japan which I was planning on at least that many hours anyways, so that all works out well. I need to go take my stuff over to the International Office thing though. I just realized the other day that pants here button on the other side, or at least the corduroys that I got on sale at Penney's do. Hmm. I think some day in the near future I will just do a catalogue of differences. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some of them are just different. An example of good is that all the magazines here come with stuff which is both entertaining and useful, for instance if you spill something on your shirt, and the only store around is a bookstore, you can just buy a copy of Elle and there you go. An example of bad is that the roads are narrow, so cars get really close to the sidewalk, so you always get splashed on rainy days (like today). An example of just different is the pant button thing (or driving on the other side of the road)not really a huge deal, just not what your used to type of thing.

Barcelona...lots of fun, but bring a good map

Also comfortable shoes. And lots of cash. So after my last post I went to Tesco to get food and Marks and Spencer for the good lemonade and then went to the bus station. I read until the bus was ready to go and then I got on the bus and didn't read so as to avoid throwing up. Instead I ate lots of bread products and lemonade. Then we (me and Rachel and Courtney) got to the airport, waited half an hour for the check in to open, waited in line for 15 minutes to check in, and then waited another 2 hours for the plane. It was one of those little planes, and they didn't have the bridge across from inside the airport, instead everybody walked out onto the tarmac and up stairs into the plane. Then I had a lovely 5 minutes trying to shove my backpack under the seat in front of me. Finally I gave in and put it in the overhead bin. I finished my book about 15 minutes before we got into Barcelona and spent the time watching the small child in the seat in front of me who was standing in his mother's lap and giggling at the people behind him. Then we landed and went through customs. I always wish I was from and EU country at that point, since they always just wave them through everything. I mean it was this tiny airport and security was pretty non existent, but we still had to fill out this form since we are American and not EU. Anyways we did that and then went to track down a bus to Barcelona. It took about an hour to get to Barcelona. When we got there it was around midnight and the metro was closed. Also there were no taxis at the bus station, and only Courtney speaks very much Spanish (which isn't even what they speak in Barcelona mainly, but it'll get you by) Anyways, we called Erin to get directions, and ended up at this hotel. Erin had left a key for me at the desk, so I went up and was like key for room 315? unfortunately the concierge didn't speak English, and I do not speak catalan. But I managed to make it clear that I wanted the key to room 315 and I guess he just wanted to get rid of me, so he gave it to me, since he gave me one. We went up, and I opened the door, turned on the lights... and the two people whose room it actually was started yelling at me in Italian. I got out of there very quickly (So quickly that I still have the key card) Anyways I called Erin again and she came and got us, which was good since some of us were freaking out (not naming names, but it wasn't me). Anyways Erin and Mark who lives in Barcelona came and got us and took Courtney and Rachel to their hostel and then we stopped at this Irish pub in Barcelona which was rather different than Irish pubs in Ireland. And I got some food, and water which was nice since planes really dehydrate you. Then me and Erin went to the hotel, where I realized that I totally want to travel on a business expense account from now on, but as I am a student I don't see that happening for a while. Then since it was around 3 in the morning we went to bed. The next day I went out to look at monuments and stuff with COurtney and Rachel. We went to the Barcelona Cathedral and Santa Anna, which was closed for siesta. Then we went to find lunch, and ended up going to this place called Nostrums, which was cool. They had prepackaged things (I got tortellini, they had a bunch of different stuff though). Then we went back to the hotel to wait for Erin since she was going to be done with work soon. When she got there we went out to shop. There is a whole taxi story, which yo can get from Erin. Shopping was cool, we found this whole long street that was just shops. I bought some sunglasses, which I needed, since I had broken mine my first day in Cork, and some scarves. After a while we decided to head back to get dressed for dinner, which was rahter more complicated than it sounds. We ended up taking 2 cabs, one for me and Erin and Joyce (who works with Erin), and another for Courtney and Rachel. We got back finally and got all changed to go out. Courtney and Rachel were going to meet us after dinner, but they didn't so no more talking about them for quite some time. We went to dinner at this fusion restraunt down on the beach. It was all really good, except for some reason with my dessert there was some sort of coffee flavored jello. Jello should not be coffee flavored, in case anyone else ever runs across it just skip it. Then we went to this club called shoko, which was fun. The DJ played technoey music which is better than the continuous 80's/Boy band and Britney Spears stuff that is the rage in Cork. Also they did mixed drinks. Yay daquiris (Don't worry mom I only had one, but seriously all they have in Cork is beer, which I don't like, so given the opportunity for a daquiri I said yes) We stayed till they closed and then went out to the beach which was cool, it's still really warm in Barcelona, unlike Cork where it is starting to get chilly (not freezing, you just have to wear a coat and sometimes hats and gloves would be nice) The water was around tap temprature, although I did not feel the need to get more than my feet wet, unlike some other people who we didn't know. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and got some sleep in preparation for a hard day of shopping on Saturday. We started around 11 something, although we got food first (and I got a box of 6 Dunkin Donuts not quite Krispy Kreme, but they keep better, and donuts in Cork tend towards the cakey) We then went to the market, which was fun except the sections with meat (most of it). And since I'm sure you don't want a blow by blow account of shopping, fast forward till siesta when we had goldfish bowl size sangrias (didn't drink them all, don't worry) and then looked at art. After that we decided to go look at this cathedral, which we eventually got to after some more stops for shopping, a wedding, and a snack. (I got some cute shoes to around this point) We went back to look at the art, took a cab back to the hotel and decided that we wanted food and sleep in that order. So me and Erin went to this pasta restraunt, which was really good. They had really good salad too. After that we went back to the hotel and packed since I had to be at the bus station at 8 in the morning (refraining from making snide comments about travelling companions at this point). I watched Shall We Dance (the new one) with Spanish dubs, and then went to sleep. We got up (somewhat reluctantly) the next morning, I caught a cab to the bus station, got on the bus and went back to the airport (Spain looks really cool early in the morning it was still sort of sunrise since it's really hilly in some points, so the sun has to get over that too. Got to the airport, and reversed the first bit. except I didn't try to shove my stuff under the seat this time. I got back to Cork, went home and collapsed onto my bed for about an hour. Then my friend Nicole called and since I said I didn't want to walk and Cork is a bit dead on Sundays, she suggested a movie. We were going to go to one of the Cork Film Festival movies, but they were all sold out, so we went to see Little Miss Sunshine, which was reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaally good. It was soooo funny. Everyone needs to go see it and then call me and talk about it. After that we went to this Italian restraunt and had pizza, which was good, and then we went to the spar for dessert. After that it started getting drizzly so we went home, and I watched a movie until I started falling asleep and then I just went to bed. Today I just kind of hung out and watched my birthday presnet from mom and dad the Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth :) I think I pulled a muscle/tendon in my foot, so I was trying to rest it so it will stop hurting. Then I came over to school to do this, and check e-mail and stuff.
Here are pictures. My camera is officially messed up, so while it will do the occasional picture, there will not be as many as there were.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Okay I haven't left yet.

I had to do some stuff for my mom, so lucky you guys get a post to tide you over the weekend. I found the gym last night. Well actually I was shown the gym by my friend Nicole (in the Qube pictures). Apparently they have special classes for people over 55 and here is a selection: Yoga, Belly Dancing, and Pilates. Now I admit that I do not spend a lot of time trying to become more flexible, but I cannot do pilates and I'm 20. I'm not sure it would be a good thing to take up in your 50's or later is all I'm saying. Sadly this is the only yoga class they are offering, so I might just go and be like, no I'm 60 I just aged really well. The only classes they offer through my school are spin classes and water aerobics, neither of which really excites me. I'm going to see Marie Antoinette at the Cork Film Festival when I get back to Cork on Sunday, so that'll be fun. I keep meaning to go to something, but thus far I have not. I'll try to get some pictures in Barcelona and post them on Monday. Maybe they will even have people in them since Erin will be there and can take some pictures too. I'm gonna go buy batteries for my camera now, so adios.

Could someone

look at the UCC web page and tell me if that is Pierce Brosnan in a funky hat on the front, or if I just really need to get some sleep. Just keep refreshing, it'll cycle back eventually. So I'm adding pictures, at the request of my parents some of them have people in them, but since Dance Clubs are probably one of the worst places to take pictures (bad lighting, to crowded, etc) I'm just tacking on the few decent pictures I got there to the pictures I took in Waterford. So, no, we were not all partying in the Waterford Crystal factory (as fun as that would be, someone would enevitably do somehting stupid with the furnace which is apparently kept constantly at some really high temprature Centigrade, and that would just be very bad). I might post again in the morning, but if not this is my last post before Barcelona. I got some sleep last night, and put a bandaid on my blister so I'm much better today. I also found out that Marks and Spencer has really good lemonade, so that made me happy. I had another round of Forensic Psychology class this afternoon, which I enjoy, although the government and legal system here are a lot different, so some of it is confusing. I need the Irish version of school house rocks, but I don't think there is one. I am very excited about going to court though, apparently we all have to either go to the district or circuit court, and in the circuit court they wear wigs and gowns, so guess which I'm going to. I'm not sure if they allow you to take pictures there, but if you can I will. But that's all later in the semester. So without further ado, here are pictures.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Hey people were are my comments?

I'm holding pictures hostage until there are at least 3 comments. (or until I have the time and energy to haul my laptop to a wifi area, whichever comes first) I had a good time in Waterford today, my camera went crazy so I'm not sure how good the pictures are, but I've got them. Lots of pretty sparkly stuff, and really hot glass. Also some blisters, I didn't add quite enough padding to my new hightops (Penney's 6 euro :) and I walked like 5 miles (not an exaggeration, seriously I'm all buff now and can do that, also seriously sleepy, but that's okay) I'll try to post pics tomorrow, but otherwise it will have to wait till I get back from Barcelona, and I'll just do a big batch. Provided my camera will work there, which I can't gurantee after it's behavior today.

Technical Difficulties

I'm having some problems getting onto my blog through my laptop, but I've emailed them to fix it, so I'll post everything tomorrow.

Pictures on Monday

I'm at the library, so 1 limited time and 2 no pictures can be posted, but I have some which I will post Monday. It was fun. They don't do mixed drinks here though, and I don't really like beer so that basically leaves rum or whiskey which are ridiculously expensive. (So don't worry mom and dad I don't have the funding to go out and drink evcessively, not that I want to) The international society was hosting it kind of, so there were a lot of people I knew, and it was at a dance club rather than a pub, so lots of dancing which was fun (although the DJ continuosly played 80's songs and stuff by ex- boy band members, so lots of mocking, also lots of mocking of the people who couldn't dance but thought they could). It's started getting a little bit cold here, so jackets are necessary now, and tights under skirts, which I didn't do last night, but will in the future since I got really cold walking home.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday

I was going to at school, but the network crashed, and then I had class and by the time that was over it was to late, and besides I was too tired. Not that you missed anything scintillating, more paper work, still slightly messed up schedule, but I think I'm going to book stuff anyways now. I did get into my program in Japan in the spring so that is very exciting. I also got almost all of my shopping errands done (okay maybe some of the stuff I didn't actually need, but sparkly nail polish is quite high on my hierarchy of self actualization) While shopping is quite fun for me, you probably don't really want to read about it, so we'll skip that. And if you want to find out more about my classes you can read my notes when I get home. Today I just did laundry and wrote essays (I don't even want to write about that, just ergh) But I'm going out tonight which might make for an interesting topic for tomorrow. (I'll keep it PG for the kiddies)And maybe I'll take some pictures with people in them! I'm going to Waterford either Monday or Tuesday, so I'll also try to get some pictures there. With any luck the crystal factory won't mind pictures being taken and I'll get one of the giant chandelier, it's supposed to be pretty cool (and by cool I mean giant and sparkly.)

I have a schedule:)

I have 2 classes on Wedensday, 1 on Thursday, and 1 online. With my early start that is 5 classes total. So I have really long weekends to travel on yay! I'm pretty sure the computer lab is going to close shortly, and I've got some other stuff to do, so I'm going now, but tomorrow I'm bringing my laptop over to school and buying all my plane tickets and stuff for traveling, so I'll post that schedule stuff then.

I'm at the library again, so limited time

I went to Tesco today and bought groceries, and Argos and bought a webcam (they had a good sale and I can use it with skype and stuff if anyone wants to talk to me...)Now I'm at the library using the internet since I couldn't face walking all the way back uphill just yet. I found a store that sells crochet hooks which was good, and my bank has finally moved my stuff over so I can get cash out of the ATM. I'm going to go track down the Psych building today so that I can get to my classes tomorrow. And then do laundry since I finally bought some laundry cubes :) Also I need to do some stuff for school involving the library, which I would normally do over weekends, but the libraries close here over the weekends. So I'm actually getting stuff done before it's due which is fairly novel. If I don't take any pics of Cork today I'll get some over the weekend, there are a few things that I keep thinking I need to get pictures of that I haven't yet. I'll try to link some pictures of me in, but they will mostly be through other peoples facebook, live journal, and blogs since I don't normally take pictures of myself. Also at some point I'll try to go in and edit and proof all this stuff, and clean up my pictures and stuff. So that's something.

I get to throw my self on the mercy of the psych department today,

So that should be fun. But if they don't just laugh in my face and throw me out, I should have a whole schedule and some interesting classes. I thought I had my schedule down until last Thursday when I found out that the Gaelic class makes you take either Monday or Friday classes, so that was out. Anyways onward to the fun stories and pictures of Dublin.
I'm in a somewhat better mood, and I intend to do some shopping today so by the end of that I should be ok. (I actually need some things, like groceries, but I think I should probably avoid the bookstores.) And for Grandma who asked, apparently the Guinness book of world records was created when the managing director of Guinness missed shooting a bird, and went to a pub afterwards, he and some other guys were talking about what the fastest game bird was, and then later he had a similar conversation in a bar, and he decided that what they needed in bars was a book of all these things to sort it all out.
Anyways, I'm going to skip Friday since I already wrote about it and go on to Saturday. We got up and had breakfast (there would have been tea and toast, except the toaster broke, so there was tea and sandwhiches). That was fun, we talked to these girls from Australia and that was fun. Then we went to meet the rest of our group at their hostel. We went to the National Gallery first which was interesting for a while, there were bog bodies, and gold stuff, and mummies, and then we went to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Sadly neither of those places allowed you to take pictures. After that we went to Hard Rock for lunch which was expensive and touristy, but they all wanted to go so I went. Anyways after that we wandered around for a bit, I got some pictures of the Molly Malone Statue, and we went to Easons, and this used bookstore we found (Easons is kind of like Borders). I got a book at the used bookstore for the bus ride back, but nobody wanted to go with me to the Market Arcade where there are supposed to be some cool fabric stores and vintage clothes stores, I thought about tracking it down myself, but it started pouring and I didn't have an umbrella, so I tracked down my hostel and hung out and talked to some of the other people staying there. There weren't a lot of pubs around the hostel I was staying at, and I didn't want to go find one in the rain, so I went to bed early, besides I had to get up at 8 anyways since we had decided to take the 10 AM bus since nothing opened till noon and everyone had stuff to do back in Cork. So I made it to the bus station on time the next day, and after that my day was kind of boring, I just did some paperwork, and took a nap. Today I've just been sorting out my schedule, I'm staying in Cork this weekend and some people have invited me to go out with them, so maybe I'll have some wilder stories then. Personally, I like Cork better than Dublin, it's way less touristy, and it feels a lot safer. Admittedly at least part of the safeness thing is that I know my way around Cork a lot better, but even when I was still getting totally lost here I never felt like I was in any danger here, whereas in Dublin I felt more edgy about it. Of course Dublin is a bigger city and there are less people here, especially when school isn't in session.
And now on to the pictures.

Sorry, I've only got 4 minutes

So any interesting stories will have to wait, I'll type them up tomorrow at least and post them Monday. I don't like Dublin as much as Cork, possibly due to cranky traveling companions who didn't want to go shopping with me :( and having just dropped a hot chocolate at the SPAR which was more embarassing than anything else, but I did manage to get some on my shoes and jeans. I think next time I come to Dublin I will have a better map, and I'll come by myself so I can shop without feeling guilty that I'm making other people come (not that they felt guilty dragging me to their stuff) sorry, I'm kind of cranky now. I'll try to get it out of my system by next time.

Greetings from Dublin International Youth Hostel

It's kind of like camp, only with better security. For any one who saw Eurotrip, it's nothing like that. Anyways, I missed the 8 o'clock bus (overslept, but I saw it pull out) so I went to Tesco as they were the only thing open, and got the first batch of bread :) and some juice and stuff for the trip, and then I hung around Argos till they opened at nine to get batteries, so there will be pictures of this trip. Then I went to McDonalds which was open at 8, but they had someone in there vaccuming so I didn't think they were, and got pancakes, they call them that here instead of hotcakes which was nice since the hotcakes thing always confused me. Although pancake syrup here tastes like, and is the consistency of honey, not a bad thing, just different. I caught the ten bus and napped my way to Dublin. Then I got to take a bus in the city to meet up with the people I was supposed to meet this morning. I know how sardines feel now. After that I went on a tour of the Guinness factory (not a big fan of beer, or the brewing process, but when in Dublin) I got my drop of Guinness and my Shamrock though (I have pictures) and I found out that Guinness makes the Guinness book of records, and why, which is an interesting story, if anyone asks for it I'll tell it. and then I had chips, with vinegar, sans fish, and garlic mushrooms which are ridiculously yummy, and they seem to have them everywhere here, although less than Pringles. Anyway then me and Rachel and Courtney headed to our hostel, since the hostel the other girls in our group are staying at is different, since they couldn't accomodate us all for 2 nights. And now I'm going to read and bed since we're getting up early to see the Book of Kells and a museum and for some reason having lunch at the Hard Rock, I might go out tomorrow though. And then Sunday I'm headed back to Cork, I'll post pics on Monday when I go to school where the free internet lives. By the way it's only 2 more weeks till my 21st birthday...

I <3 Clubs Day

They give you candy, and you get to play with swords. What more can you ask for really. I signed up for Kendo and Aikido and Trampoline club, although they don't actually start for another week or so, and most of them are really lax about attendance, but I'm still rather sad I missed society day, I have to track down the music room all on my own now. :( anyways, I've actually got a class to attend to day, so that should be fun, and I've mostly worked out my schedule, although for some reason most upper division classes don't start till next week, so I'll have to wait till then to do a full run through and make sure it works out. I'll write up all my schedule stuff then, including the days and places I'm traveling to hopefully. I'll post some pics of Dublin on Monday too, and I'll try to track down those picks of Blarney I promised over the weekend from Erin and Rachel, since they are both going to Dublin as well. Also I get my first fun experience in a hostel, so I'll tell you how that goes too.

What's with all the germs?

For some reason now that I am finally over my cold completely, I managed to pick up a mild flue bug or something. I'm fine now, but I felt like death on toast this morning. It was rather unfortunate since I missed societies day, but there is still clubs day tomorrow, and I can email the societies I'm interested in, plus the school publishes a newspaper of all the soc/club events for the week. At least I didn't miss any classes, or for that matter my trip to Dublin on Friday. I went to the library though instead of school to type this up, since it's closer, and I don't have to walk uphill so much as my stomach is still a bit iffy. Hopefully it is just one of those 24 hour things and I'll be completely good tomorrow, that would be rather a novel experience. I like that the library is next to this restraunt called Hillbilly's Chicken. It always amuses me on the walk here, and it's a good landmark when anyone asks where the library is. I've only got about 5 minutes of internet left, so I'm going to check my e-mail now. I'll write more tomorrow when I've got free internet at school and hopefully something interesting to talk about.

Wait, What?

For some reason it feels very surreal to me that classes have actually started, but I still don't have a complete schedule. I think I almost have, but not entirely since I haven't taken my sign up stuff in. It's a bit different for the Irish students I guess, since they have to take a specific set of courses, and they are all arranged to work out with the times for that program, where I am trying to take classes from multiple sections. I finally worked it out so it works though, and as long as I can get the intro to Irish class I want I'll have a full load of classes. The way it works out, I've got one class on Thursday for 3 hours, One is web based which was the only way I could work in my English class with psych stuff and still have Fridays off, and then the gaelic class they work around your schedule. So I don't know for sure when that one will be, but I blocked out my Mondays and Fridays, so I'll at least have a lot of travel time, and then I can just shove a lot of hours in when I go to Japan. I still haven't got my acceptance stuff from them, but there is a whole lot of crazy postal stuff that could be holding it up, since there are 3 countries postal systems involved (well 2 for me and 2 for the study abroad office, so 3 total). I'm going to Dublin this weekend with about 5 or 6 other girls so that should be fun. I still need to figure out a travel schedule, but I'll do that over this and next week when I figure out what my total schedule for school is.

No I didn't Kiss the stone

This would be why, it's bending over backwards over a sheer drop of over 4 stories with only a little old man holding you. The girls I went with did though (that's Rachel in the picture). We got to the park it's in and it started pouring rain. So I got to walk around in wet jeans all day. Plus up 4 flights of stone spiral staircases that were totally slippery. And the batteries I brought were almost all dead, so I don't have a lot of pictures. Erin and Rachel said I could have some of theirs so I'll try to get them at some point this week and do another slide show. I still don't have quite all of my schedule done, but I definetely don't have Monday and Friday classes, and maybe not Tuesday either (I'm not slacking off, they just don't have as much lecturing going on, it's only like one or two hours of lecturing going on for a class in a week, so I have lectures for 2 hours on Thursday for Psychology and the internet, and 3 hours somewhere for intro to Irish, and then my Feminism and Psychology class is online. My other class options are on Weds/Thursday for an upper division English. My early start also means I don't have to take quite so many classes now, since that one is already over. It's crazy how crowded the campus is today after being so empty all last month. I'm going to Dublin this weekend, I'll try to bring batteries that are charged this weekend and actually take some pictures.

Academic Walkabout

Apparently it is only the clases, not the clubs, but that's ok, since I finally have schedules. I'll post that all next time I have internet, and probably my Blarney pictures and stories as well. Possibly I'll go to an internet cafe over the weekend, but Monday at latest.

The rain took out my umbrella

Well actually it was the wind, I also managed to fall and run my tights, so I decided to stay home and do laundry and mending (not sure how to mend tights though). I got a bloody nose in class today which was very exciting, although not the good kind. My cold is gone, except for a bit of coughing and sore throat from all the snot though. So I should be good for the Academic walkabout tomorrow, and maybe I can finally track down someone from the psych department and get some accurate class schedules. I've got dinner with the folklore class tonight, but after that all I've got is the final, and essays to turn in for that class. I'm off to buy a new umbrella now. I'll tell you how the walk about goes tomorrow.

The sky is spitting at me :(

It doesn't really properly rain here during the day, it just drizzles randomly. Anyways, I didn't really do anything exciting yesterday either. The cold won once again, so I just went to the library and the English Market and then went home and took a nap. All the little Freshers have arrived today, so they are all taking tours and carting around umbrellas. It makes the place a bit more colorful, and crowded. Apparently the upper classmen don't start for a week after the freshman which I don't get, but there are lots of parties and stuff then, so it should be fun. (I kind of want to go to the pirate party, free hat and eyepatch :). Tomorrows my last day of my folklore class, and Friday is the Academic Walkabout. And then on Saturday I'm going to Blarney, so I'll have more to write about and pictures to post then. Also more info on the clubs and classes I'm doing. If it stops being so drizzly I might go out tonight, as my nose has stopped running so much, and my ears are only a little stuffed up now. I might just stay home and work on my essays though, since they are due in a couple weeks, and the cobble stones are pretty slick when it's raining.

Pics of Innisheer

I didn't really do anything interesting yesterday. I took a nap and watched tv, which was amusing to me, as the accents were all over the place, but probably not that fun for you guys. So I'm posting my pictures of Innisheer and the Burren today. Maybe I will go down to the International students party at Ruby Tuesdays (Free shots) tonight and regale with tales of umm... happy sing alongs and tea (seriously mom I promise). I'm going to Blarney this weekend so I'll definitely have some pictures to post after that. The freshers are here today, so there is free candy all over the place, that combined with the fact that my laptop battery is dying means I'm gonna go now.

Field trip review

So we started out to Innisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands at 9:30 on Thursday morning.The bus ride took a few hours, and we had a stop over in Bunratty for lunch (I also got a tiny bottle of mead to add to my tiny bottles of alchohol that you can't get in the US collection) We stopped later for groceries near the ferry dock, I ended up with a jar of jam and three half baguettes for breakfast on Friday and Saturday. We then continued the rest of the way to the harbor/dock/whatever it's called. We had a little bit of a wait and I took some pictuers, as well as having rock skipping contests.We got on the ferry and it was about an hour ride out to Innisheer, although we had to stop at another island first to drop off some people. When we got there we dropped off our stuff at the hostel and went to have dinner, by this time it was about 8:30. Aside to mom and dad: There was breaded garlic mushrooms, and salad, and then lasagna and salad and then apple pie, all of which I ate so stop worrying about me. Some of the people went to the pub next door
after dinner, but most of the girls in my room were tired, so we went to bed.(I blame the dramammine even though it was supposed to be non drowsy)
We got up fairly early the next morning, since there was a tour of a museum, in the morning. I proceeded to eat all of my baguettes with jam, and consume
pretty much all the food available to me for the rest of the day, since being near
large bodies of water always makes me hungry for some reason. We went to the museum
were the tour was supposed to be, but when are teacher called apparently there was
some mix up on the times, so we had about an hour to wait, me and some of my friends went to this little cafe for tea and scones which were pretty good (also rather fond of the apple butter)We went back to the museum for the tour and then went on a little walk around the residential area to see the cows and tiny horses in peoples back yards. We then had lunch and proceeded to take a walk around the
island to see the holy well, and lighthouse. The well was fairly easy to get to,
but the light house was on the other side of the island, and we decided to go around the coast.
The problem with that was that instead of nice sandy beaches it was pretty much rock
with lots of big cracks between, and as I am not the most coordinated and tennis shoes offer no ankle support I managed to sprain both my ankles which was not really very fun under the circumstances, since I pretty much had to keep going anyway. It was really pretty though, the pictures don't really do it justice. We finally got inland a bit, but I managed to trip over a rock in a field and slam my knee into a more hidden rock, so now it's rather bruised and sore, but if I manage to keep from breaking anything, which should be easier now that I'm back in the city,
I should be nice and toned from all this hiking. We made it to the lighthouse, but as it is still in use you couldn't go inside. We took the inland road back to the hostel, but we didn't really see a lot of people till near the end. Although I'm pretty sure I know where the locals go to drink there. When we got back we sat around talking for a bit in the living room until it was time for dinner. Soup, more lasagna and salad, and cream puffs with chocolate syrup and strawberry ice cream (pretty good, but they were thawed)then everybody who wanted to went to the pub, but most of the girls who had gone hiking with me opted for bed early. I took a shower and went to bed then too. I might have gone out, but I was really tired and we had to be on the ferry at 8 the next morning.
I managed to make the ferry which was another hour ride back, but it was a little choppier that morning. We saw dolphins following part way, but I didn't manage to get any pictures, it was cool though. Once we got back to the mainland we had breakfast before getting on the bus. I had poached eggs which weren't exactly what I thought they were, but tasted good,and the perpetual tea and toast, plus a scone, and they gave me hot water, so I also had the hot chocolate I had brought. Between me and Courtney we managed to get through more than half of the jar of jam I had bought on Thursday evening which I find rather impressive. We then took the bus back.
We went through the Burren which is really pretty, and drove by the Cliffs of Moher (I was only about 50 yards away, I could see the people in line), but we didn't stop since our teacher said that she didn't want to have to deal with the safety issues. I did get a picture of the visitors center though, and I fully intend to go back later with some friends, and some swords and black masks. I pretty much slept after that until we went back through Bunratty and stopped for lunch, I had a wrap which was pretty good,they have a lot of sandwhich shops that sell wraps around here, and for some reason corn seems to be one of the primary fillings in veggie ones. Also they use English Mustard, which is good, but really spicey. I also got a chocolate muffin and orange juice, as I couldn't deal with more tea just then.
After that I went shopping downstairs and bought a hat and scarf, since much as I like the wool sweaters that everyone else was getting, I get itchy at just the thought of that much wool in direct contact with my skin.We didn't stop till we got back to Cork after that. I got off with some friends, next to one of their other friend's apartment, and then went home with them as their place was closer. We watched t.v. and had dinner, and then some of us went out.I met another girl who wants to join choir (aside to Amanda:she also loves Wicked and Les Mis). We went to a couple of pubs, but as it was only around 10:30 they were fairly empty. I stuck around till around 11:30, but at that point me and Courtney, who was also on the Innisheer trip, were to tired, so we went home. I woke up on Sunday with a sinus infection(Don't worry mom, it's just a runny nose and stuffy ears like I get every year when school starts), so I spent the morning trying to convince myself to get up and get some medicine, and finally suceeded around noon. I took some sudafed, and then went to Tessco for orange juice and cough drops, since all the pharmacies are
closed on Sunday. I came home, had some orange juce, read for a bit and then took a nap. I finished my library book and took some more sudafed when I got up again. Hopefully I can go to the pharmacy today and get something other than sudafed, since that keeps giving me really bizzare dreams. Also I need to buy some ankle wraps. (Aside to dad: I would just ice them, but they don't really seem to have ice here)
On the bright side I didn't get any of this until after all of the field trips, and if it lasts, a couple of days maybe I'll be able to convince myself to stay home and do my essays, instead of waiting and doing them at the last minute.
My early start lectures end this Friday, and regular term begins next Monday so at some point in the next week and a half I should have a schedule and
can arrange all my travel plans, so I'll post all that info when I know for sure.
I'm just posting a couple of pictures today, since I didn't bring my laptop, and it's to hard to do a lot with the computers in the lab.

No updates till Monday

I'm going to the Aran Islands tomorrow morning, so no updates till Monday. I should have a lot of pictures and stuff then though, so I'll probably do a whole slideshow of it. I won't have cell phone reception till Saturday afternoon probably, so if anyone needs to talk to me, try to do it today, or you'll have to wait a bit. Mainly I got ready for my trip last night, so no big updates. Apparently this is graduation time here though, so there are a lot of students in robes wandering around campus which is somewhat amusing. Also apparently one of the students in the economics class drowned a couple weeks ago, along with another man, while attempting to rescue two other people, who were eventually rescued, it was in the paper on the day he should have graduated. Apparently there was some sort of flooding, and this beach that was normally safe for swimming at got too turbulent. So that is really sad. The other students in his class all wore a white rose in his memory.
That's about all that I have to update on. Except I finally got my student travel card, and know where the student travel office is now, although I don't know if they have any good deals, I'll probably check back after I know my schedule. I've worked out that I only really need to take about four classes while I'm here, but I'm also thinking about joining some clubs, and choir. http://www.ucc.ie/en/CurrentStudents/
ClubsSocietiesandSports/
I want to join the Trampoline club and some other things, there are more, but not all of them are online yet. They also have a club day for all the freshman, and international students, shortly after school starts, so I'll figure that out then.

Mostly Fixed

My blog is centered now, there are still a few quirks, but mainly this is how it's going to look from now on (or at least until I get bored and change it again).
Mostly I'm just going to class and getting ready(doing laundry and stuff) to go to Innisheer on Thursday morning. We had a lecture over merry wakes today which was interesting. I might not have cell phone reception out there, so if anyone needs to call me do it before Thursday or after Saturday please. The early start is winding down, so I'm probably going to be doing essays and picking my other classes in the next couple of weeks. Things should get more interesting around the end of September when the normal term starts, and all the other students come back. But outside of the the field trip to Innisheer I haven't got a lot planned in the next couple of weeks. I will probably go to Blarney and/or Waterford at some point. So I'll try to take some pictures there, and we're making a side trip around this really beautiful part of the coast on the way back this weekend according to my teacher. So hopefully we will have good weather and I'll have some pictures to post when I get back.

Some of my Bunratty Pictures

Cork Slideshow

More pictures

I'm posting the Cork pictures I've taken so far today (hopefully) as a separate slideshow. I've also got some pictures of Bunratty (not sure I'm spelling that right if not I'll change it later) We went to the castle and folk park there in class this weekend. It was really interesting. Basically we showed up at the Western Star Pub on Saturday morning to meet our bus, then rode for about 2-3 hours to Limerick. Then we stayed at the University housing there, so we stopped by and dropped off our stuff. By the way the dorms/apartments here are so much better than the ones at home. Then we stopped for lunch and went to the castle. We did a group tour of the castle which I've got some pictures of , and then we went off in groups for the afternoon. My dreams of living in a castle are pretty much wrecked however, given my hatred of the staris there. It was designed as a defensive castle so the stairs are really narrow, so only one person can go up them at a time, and the steps were designed to be uneven so that invaders would fall down. Also they are rather drafty and damp. Going up in the towers was fun though. You could see the ocean and everything from up there.
After that we looked around the folk village and went to the coffee shop. We had about two hours after the town closed before dinner, so me and some other girls went down to this pub and sat around for a while. There was some sort of party with abunch of guys and a buffet going on, which the guys invited us to have some food, but we waited for the dinner we were going to.
Dinner was interesting there were a lot of groups of older people who had apparently been at another pub drinking before hand.
We got mead at the entrance, which is ok, although not my favroite drink.
Then we did a 4 course dinner which was nice, and they even did vegetarian meals which was good since there are 8 other vegetarians in my class.
We were all pretty tired afterwards, so we went back to the college to sleep.
We got up the next morning and went to Adair were we had preakfast and did some shopping. And then we went back to Cork.
I spent the afternoon watching a Firfly marathon with some other girls from my class whose friend had brought the series and movie. We also went to the Caeligh on Sunday(also not sure about spelling). There was dancing and people selling things, so it was kind of like a carnival.
Altogether it was a pretty exciting weekend. And hopefully I'll have as much fun at Innisheer this weekend.

Good job on the comments people

I can moderate them now, which means the ones I've got since them aren't published till I say they can be, so no more publishing that people don't want, just let me know if it's ok to publish yours in the text somewhere.
Apparently some people didn't realize, but there are captions on the pictures that you can read if you click on the slide show to activate them. Apparently my school email address has something called centipaid on it which means I can charge people to send me email. (it's supposed to prevent spam, and not be very large amounts, but seriously if you got a lot of emails, that would be a good way to make some extra cash)
I'm going on a field trip tomorrow and Saturday, so don't expect an update till Monday, I will be taking my cell phone though. a I should get some good pictures as I'm going to a folk park and a castle.
I'll post the pictures of Cork I promised when I get back as well, since I didnt bring the right things to the computer lab today.

It's sunny today:)

So you guys might get some pictures of Cork tomorrow if you are very nice and actually comment (or email that would work too). I'm considering doing a trade off of a picture for every email and comment I get since except for Grandma no one feels the need to leave comments. (I do realize there was a slight problem with the comment system for a day, but lets try to be a little more chatty people). Anyways yesterday I fell in love with the Penneys store here. Shopping is fun, and they have really cute stuff for not a lot of Euro which was nice for a change. I also like Waterstones the main bookstore here since they give a student discount on top of their other discounts (although it's not like I can buy a lot of books, cause it would be expensive to get them all home). Anyways, I got a couple of shirts and a little sleeping bag since we apparently need them for the hostels we're staying at on our field trips. Apparently there are like 8 other vegetarians in my class of 48 students so this will be fun. I'm going to go out and take pictures now. Leave comments.