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.

Hi everybody

OK, I should have wifi at school on my laptop soon, and then maybe I'll try my Ipaq and update more frequently. I haven't done anything really exciting in the last day, just class and grocery shopping. Cork is kind of a college town, and most of the students don't come back till the end of September, so it should get more exciting then. I did have a band coming down the road I was trying to walk up with all my groceries last night, which would have been more fun if I hadn't been trying to walk uphill with a bag full of groceries and a backpack. Still haven't taken any more pictures as it is still kind of gray and drizzly. But the captions on the ones from Kinsale should take a while to get through. Tomorrow we're learning about fairies in folklore, so that will be fun. I'm going to type up my notes for class to study with later, so if anyone wants them e-mail and I'll send them to you.(although it is still a class so despite the fairy tales it's educational.)Hopefully something exciting will happen this afternoon and I'll have more to write tomorrow.

Shorter recap: Weekend

OK, apparently I had Friday off, which I didn't realize till Thursday Afternoon. I totally could have gone to France or something, but it seemed a bit late to start planning somehting big, so I didn't. I went shopping and hung out with some friends in Cork on Friday (plus I went to the English market where the best bread and apple tarts in the world (or at least Cork) are). Then we went to Waxy's which is a bar not a pub, although I forget why. Anyways we went home fairly early since the next day me and some other guys went to Kinsale to sea the coast, which is mostly what I've got pictures of right now. It was ridiculously warm, until we got back to Cork and then it started raining. Everyone else got fish and chip, I just got chips. It was fun, and we went to a museum and a castle/hugest wine cellar in the world. We pretty much just walked all over town.
The next day I was kind of tired, so I just did laundry and slept in and watched TV, the channels here are still kind of weird to me (aside to Amanda: they have Grey's Anatomy here, but it's on season 2(they call it series 2) so if I were a meaner person I could totally spoil it for them).
I figured that I needed to do my laundry then anyway since this week my class is going to Bantry castle, and the next week we're going to Innisheer the smallest of the Aran islands, where my class will double the population, yay. I'm still having problems with the school computer stuff, as I can't get my laptop on the wifi, and their computers are more limited, so until I can figure it out I might not be able to do some of the stuff with the blog that I wanted to. (Aside to dad: I can't figure out how to get the text part of the blog centered, it won't do it in dreamweaver either, so if you can think of anyway to do that I would appreciate it.)
I'll try to take some pictures today of Cork, but it's kind of drizzly out, so I may wait for better weather/lighting.