Some pictures from Howth

Me and my roommates Fal and AnnCatherine at Howth :)

Howth

Today was the best day ever. It started out being the most beautiful day, nice and warm so we went to the food festival in Temple Bar. After stuffing our faces we walked to the train station to catch the train to Howth. It was less than 5 euros for a round trip ticket. As soon as we got there we discovered two things: first that it had gotten a lot colder (and we'd regret not dressing appropriatey) and second, that Howth was amazing. Its probably one of the most beautiful places I've evr been. It reminded me a little of Maine, but when you look out into the water you see these amazing cliffs and the occasional castle. As we were walking we saw a bunch of seals in the water right by us so we decided to go buy fish to feed them. It was so much fun ad for only 2 euro we got 3 big fish to throw. Needless to say, the seals loved us. Then we just walked around for a few hours, taking TONS of pictures and playing with the many dogs that happened to be walking around. Then we went to this restaurant called The Bloody Stream (weird name, not sure about the story behind that) where we of course got Fish and Chips. It was soooo good and really filling. Then an hour or so after we got back to campus we looked outside and it was snowing! This was so exciting because it apparently never snows in Dublin. Last time it snowed (an it wasnt as much as tonight) basically the whole city shut down. It was really hard to believe the snow since the day started off so warm! I should be able to put up a few pictures tonight :) I'll definitely be going back to Howth and I think everyone needs to go if they're ever in Ireland!

classes and such

Today was the first time I had my Irish Cinema class and it just about put me to sleep. I'm hoping that as the semester goes by the films will get more interesting. We watched the Man of Aran today which was made in 1934 in western Ireland. I have no problems with black and white films or silent (almost silent) films but this was tough to sit through. I thought it was going to be my favorite class but now I'm thinking it might be my least. I'll just have to wait and see. My other classes are really great. As I've mentioned before I'm taking an Irish history course, one about contemporary Europe, one about the US, and another about Russia. I really like the Irish one. Our program director teaches it, and he's hilarious. Exactly what you expect an old Irish man to be like. The only thing I don't like about the class is that its with the rest of the group I came with. Its very frustrating to sit in there with so many annoying and ignorant people but luckily I've found a few of them that aren't so bad. I'm not sure what to make of the contemporary Europe one just yet. Our first class we spent listening to one of the 'mature' students talk non stop. I think its great that older people want to come back to school but this one woman was absolutely ridiculous. She spent the whole class bringing up things that were not entirely related to what we were discussing and she would constantly interject when someone else was talking. Then our professor wasnt there this week so we didnt have class. My America and the Wider World class should be interesting. The issue I had with the first class was that it was entirely student presentations and the professor did little more than ask a few questions at the end of the presentations. I have a real problem with classes like that because when I am paying so much money to be taught by professionals who are experts in their fields, I should be taught by them and not students. However, it turns out that most weeks will be split in half so most of the time will be lecture and a small portion will be student presentations. My Russia class is probably one of my favorites. The professor is very personable and knows so much. He has an incredibly Irish name I will probably never be able to pronounce. The only thing I'm worried about is that my entire grade is based on one 16 page paper turned in at the end of the semester. Not looking forward to that.

On another note, we went out last night to celebrate (or in some cases forget) exam results. Of course I didn’t take exams since I wasn’t here but I made Dean’s List so I thought that was sufficient. We had a bunch of people come over and then we went to this club, Spy. It was such a fun night. The club itself is really awesome. There are 3 floors, and each room has its own DJ. It was just crazy. Then when we left and were walking to get food we passed through a couple of knacker fights. If you don’t know what a knacker is it’s the Irish term for people who are just really trashy, scumbags etc. It was probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen, especially cause it was all girl fights. The Irish girls we were with were explaining everything as it happened and were surprised I’d never seen anything like that in Boston. We didn’t get home until very early in the morning but I still had plenty of time to sleep since I didn’t have class til 1.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier blog (or even if I’m allowed to mention it yet since it hasn’t been officially announced) but my roommate Chris won an award for Best Radio Documentary in Europe. Its an especially big deal because he scored like 60 points higher than the BBC entry. Here’s the link to the documentary if anyone is interested: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/8yearson.html It’s a really moving piece about his mom and her struggle to overcome her heroin addiction.

So tomorrow we’re going to Howth and either tonight or sometime this weekend I really hope I can upload all my pictures online. And Dan will be here this time next week!! Emily will be here a week from tomorrow and Leanne will be here in a few weeks for St Patricks day!
Cheers!

exciting news!

I feel like I've been raelly busy snce I last posted! So on Saturday we went into the city to shop and get food at the food festival in Temple Bar. Monday and Tuesday we went to the NU Bar on campus (makes me miss NU back home). My roommate Chris was DJing so we went to see him. We also ended up finding an open mic night next door. Its a really fun place to hang out, everyoe is really nice and we ended up meet a ton of people. Last night we ended up going to a club in the city which was fun, but it was incredibly crowded and way too hot. But I was excited cause I wore a dress I bought awhile ago and hadn't had the chance to wear yet haha.

My classes are going really well although it's turning out that I'll be VERY busy this semester. I dont have a lot of assignments but the ones I have are big and important. I have a 6 page paper, two 2 page papers, a presentation on the 2008 presidential election (easy for us Americans who were able to vote in it), and a few shorter papers. While its a lot of work, it means that I'm basically done everything after the end of April. So I'll have most of May to travel :)

This weekend we're going to Howth (sounds like ho-th), a small fishing villiage outside of Dublin. I'm really excited about it, the pictures I've seen are beautiful. And we'll be getting some real fish n' chips. Now I should be getting to bed but I'll update with pictures soon!

Oh but last and most importantly... DAN IS VISITING ME NEXT FRIDAY! He decided today that he would come for spring break :) I'm so excited to show him Dublin and introduce him to my roommates. I'm still kind of in shock that he spontaneously decided to fly to Ireland in a week!!

Yesterday Pat and I went walking around more of Dublin. We went to St Patrick’s Cathedral, which is absolutely gorgeous. I probably could have just sat there all day. We also went to Dublin Castle and ended up finding the Polish area of the city (which also had a beautiful church). We even had our first real Irish meal, corned beef and cabbage with lots of potatoes. I love that I that there is no such thing as too many starches here and that you can have potatoes with your potatoes and can even have some on the side. I also tried my first Guinness… and I have to say it wasn’t my favorite. It wasn’t as bad as I expected but it was very heavy and thick. Not my style which I knew, but I had to try it anyways!
Last night I ended up going out with my roommate and all her friends from the business school here. Before we left the girls were all just hanging out in our apartment and asking questions about what things are like in the US. They asked me if I lived close to Fal (my roommate here who’s from VA) I said that it wasn’t too bad, probably just an 8-10hr drive and they all laughed- since it only takes about 3 hours to get from Dublin to Galway which are on opposite coasts. They also asked about college parties/ frat parties and if everyone really drinks out of the red plastic cups- which I thought was really funny because that’s one of those things from movies that actually VERY true. The place we ended up going to is between a pub and a club. It has a nice/smaller bar in the front which is pretty relaxed and then it has a larger section in the back with two bars, a dance floor, and a DJ. It still looked like a traditional pub though and has signed jerseys all over the place. They played a lot of contemporary music but they also played some songs I wasn’t expecting at all. For example- 9-5 by Dolly Parton… didn’t see that one coming, but it was so funny cause everyone knew the words and was singing along. Then they also played Cotton-Eyed Joe (but no one did the dance), Don’t Stop Believing (which wasn’t too much of a surprise, cause who doesn’t love that song?), Summer Nights from Grease. And at the end they played the Irish National Anthem which was kinda weird. I can’t imagine them playing the Star Spangled Banner at a bar in the US except maybe on the Fourth of July. But the best part was when they played Galway Girl- basically the most popular song in Ireland (also featured in PS I Love You in case anyone was wondering). Everyone was excited and singing and dancing. It was great.
Tomorrow I think my roommates and I are going into town to get a few things, maybe stop by this food festival in Temple Bar. Not sure what else I’ll be up to. I have a lot of reading to do already so I’ll be doing that today and tonight.
Oh but here are some interesting findings about Dublin so far!- Students go out on weekdays, clubs are pretty dead on the weekend and pubs are filled with an older crowd. Also things close early around here- the last bus into the city is 1130 and places close down around 2 at the latest. Which is great cause then students can go out on weekdays and still have plenty of time to sleep before their classes the next day haha. Taxi drivers are incredibly nice and not sketchy and the taxis are all clean! I am still not able to figure out which side I should walk to if I’m headed directly towards someone. I know in the US it’s safe to assume, go right and that’s generally accepted. Cannot figure that out here AT ALL, we’re thinking there might not be a general rule for that. I am however getting the hang of looking the other direction before crossing the street. The bathroom is either called the toilet or the jack, not the bathroom since there’s no bath there. Crack is not cocaine here, crack means fun. And the Irish speak really fast and quiet. I think that’s all for now.
Cheers!

More pictures!

You might notice that some of the pictures look really nice and other don't... this is because I finaly realized its a waste of time to edit all the pictures. It's overcast a lot here, I've accepted it now. Hopefully I can get out to take more pictures when its sunny!

The spire in the middle is their time capsule for the Millenium and serves as our replacement Prudential Building to tell us how to get home...












Trinity College


Famous Temple Bar


Any LOTR fans? There was also a jewelry store called New Moon lol


This one is for my uncle :)


More to come!

Pictures of my room

Bed!




Bathroom!


Desk!