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).