Cows are evil

            I made cooooooooooooookies! Tesco has a line of cookies where you just add water and butter and BAM delicious cookies in like 10 min. Fantastic! Though definitely not as good as the cookies I make at home. I also wanted to make brownies, but I can’t find the Ghirardelli mix anywhere and I just don’t think I could settle for a lesser type haha. Watched “P.S. I Love You” while cooking and cried like a baby. That movie is too darn sad. Though it was gonna be a comedy when I first saw it and boy oh boy was I surprised. Good, but depressing.

            Friday I went to Irish and learned more phrases…now I can talk more specifically about the weather and also put sentences in verb, subject, object, pronoun order. We’re learning real grammar! And guess what, it makes a little more sense than the spelling of the damn words. Other than the class, though, I just sat at home and watched TV (Leverage reruns ftw) and rested for my early wakeup for my Archaeology field trip on Saturday.

            Well, speaking of Archaeology, this field trip was a wonderful combo of old structures and walking through cow pastures. Very exciting. I really did have a good time, though, and got to see a bunch of things that I totally never would have gone to visit. It’s funny…in Ireland there are bunches of ruins just dotted around, so it’s very possible to life on a farm where in one of the corners is an ancient ring fort, or to graze your cattle around a 16^thth century A.D. The structure no longer exists but the outline is very clear. It was pretty cool because this wasn’t a typical castle like one might picture—they were circular and the “moats” were actually two giant ditches (9m or more) dug all the way around the ringfort THROUGH the rock. Craziness! There were actually many kings in Ireland at that point, though most of them only controlled a small amount of land; the Éoganacht Raithleann were in turn ruled by a provincial king. Next was the 15^th century Ballinacarriga tower house. The tower house was the most common form of building in that time as it was more vertical than horizontal. We got to go inside this one and explore all of the rooms. It was a lot smaller than Blarney, though there were a lot of similarities. We got lunch in Clonakilty, a small town where almost nothing was open. So unfortunate. But we walked around a bit, saw the church (even the smallest towns have beautiful churches), and ended up hanging out at the hotel restaurant. Well, luckily, I brought my own food. Except I meant to make a sandwich the night before but surprise! I didn’t have any bread. Failblog. So I just ate chicken and melted cheese haha. Awesome. Thankfully the gracious Rebecca kindly shared half of her delicious sandwich. After my delicious lunch we moved on to Coppinger’s Court, a 17^th century semi-fortified manor house literally in the middle of cow pastures. The bus couldn’t take us up the road, so we walked a bit and were soon joined by two adorable yet random dogs, who insisted we pay them lots of attention. They followed us all the way to the pasture, where we had to wait for the cows to be herded to another field before going in. The dogs kept running in and chasing the cattle, which was hilarious because they were about the size of Coconut and watching them drive huge cows around was unexpected. At one point though the cows started running at the dogs and they scampered right back to us on the other side of the fence. Then the cows just stood in a line and watched us. Seriously, they were staring us down. Then they started walking slowly towards us, still in a line. Freaky! Once the field was safe we jumped over an electric fence. Yeah, my life flashed before my eyes. Aka not at all dangerous as long as our skin didn’t touch it, and since it was like 30º out I was completely covered. Rebecca couldn’t quite make it over without touching the wire (geez what a midget! :-P), and since she’s still alive I guess it wasn’t really that bad. So we did survive the cows and the wire, but we weren’t allowed to go inside the manor house cause apparently it could fall on us. Faaaaantastic. Finally we hiked up a freaking mountain to the Drombeg stone circle from the Bronze Age, which is apparently rather famous. Picture Stonehege, but a lot smaller. Essentially the same idea—this circle was aligned with the winter equinox (November 21) and some sort of ritual was conducted there. Obviously we took pictures with the gorgeous landscape that we could see from the mountaintop and a lot of people did the always-popular “picture on a sacrificial stone” haha. Our professor is SO COOL! He really knows his stuff and plus we weren’t looking just at tombs and such—this was a deviation from what we’d been studying in class and so so much more interesting. He gave us awesome tours through all of the sites and told us lots about how life would have been back then. All I can say is, thank goodness I didn’t live then! There’s this thing called a garderobe which is essentially a toilet that empties onto the grounds below. Garderobeserious ew. Imagine that horrific smell! century manor house. Craziness. We started out by hiking through a frost-covered field to Garranes Ringfort, which was the royal seat of the Éoganacht Raithleann who were provincial kings around the 5 means “clothes guard,” which might seem like an odd name for a toilet except for the fact that people would hang their clothes above the hole as the sulfur and other fumes would kill lice and other bugs. Ew. Like serious ew.

            That night Rafa and I went to a birthday party for one of the girls on the team out in Thurles (pronounced Ter-les). It was in a pub and we had the whole space to ourselves, plus we had rooms right above the pub that we could sleep in. It was really really fun and I got to bond with the girls on the team more than I had before. They’re all awesome people. Plus I got to cuddle with Rafa that night…what a win! :-P (There weren’t enough beds so people were all squishing or sleeping on the floor.) I slept late and got back to Cork around 4 and spent the rest of the day in bed cause I was tired. Don’t worry, Mom, I finished my hw before I went out on Saturday :-)

Slán go fóill!

UCC, UCC, UCC!!!

            We won our rugby game! It was an epic ending, actually. But let me start from the beginning…Well, first of all, Rafa and I went into this game thinking we were going to be subs, since that’s what she told us. Thus, I was not overly nervous, knowing that I could not destroy our chances. Plus, since we were playing a team of fully adult women, we weren’t even expected to win, so if we lost it wasn’t the end of the world. Yeah, didn’t happen. As the coach (Theresa) read out the starting 15, she said “Number 4, Raffie” (one of Rafa’s many names). That is so wrong because a) we should NOT be starting, being unfit and having only been to two practices, and b) Rafa is not a lock. She is a prop, which is very VERY different from a lock. I was quite happily a sub until all of the sudden I was in for Rafa at lock, since that is my position. All of the sudden my intense nervousness came back. I blame that, along with my unfitness, for the fact that I really didn’t play that well. I mean, I got a lot better as I got comfortable with rugby again, but I seriously need to start doing fartleks lol. I did get a sub (GASP SHOCK) so I got to watch a little. But game recap: we played 25 min halves since this was a memorial game for a woman who had played on both UCC and Ballincollig. We scored first and converted, then they scored but did not convert, then we scored but did not convert. At half, the score was 12-5 UCC. They scored again and converted about 15 min into the second half, tying it up. I got subbed out with about 5-10 min left, so I got to watch the insanely awesome ending. Well, first of all, there was almost a fight between one of our props (not Rafa, who came in about 10 min into the second half) and her opposing prop because the Ballincollig prop was scrumming very oddly, creeping in closer before we engaged so our prop couldn’t get low and our scrum kept collapsing. Our girl can be kind of ornery and overreacts a bit, but she was justified in being pissed this time. But anyway, fight averted (though she smacked the crap out of her on the engage haha), and we pushed them into their 22. So close! By this point we were in overtime, vying to score first and win the cup. Ballincollig had the ball but as they passed one of our players intercepted it and ran to the try zone right between the posts and touched it down. Thus, we won! It was an upset…even our coach told us that we weren’t expected to win haha. But we diiiiiiiiiiiiiid!! We got a cup (sadly I did not get a good pic of it) and a team pic. I’m really glad I was here for this cause Rafa and I got to play in a pretty meaningful game.

            However, I now feel like I was hit by a semi. Not surprisingly, I have tons of bruises, though I’m also a lot sorer than any other time, though that could also be because this is my first game since November. I do know I need to get fitter, because these were only 25 min halves and I was tired! Also the way that they play is different—tackles are a lot higher usually (though not illegal-high), just at the shoulders in games and such, and when they ruck they don’t step over like we do at Bowdoin, so I found myself alone on the other side of a ruck a couple times. Awkward. Also the backs never go into the rucks, even if they’re there (okay, with a few exceptions, but they’re not supposed to). I get that forwards should be the ones rucking, but if you’re there and are a back, get in the freaking ruck. Ballincollig put like 5 or 6 girls in each ruck, so we rarely won them, which did hurt us since we rarely had possession. I suppose we’ll work on it in practice. Small things, but they did mean the game was different enough that I had trouble sometimes. Also, they call mouthguards "gummies." LOLZ.

            On another note, I did laundry! Finally… Lemme just say, two loads, wash and dry, was 10 euro. Dude, that’s a ripoff!! There’s nowhere cheaper, AND my sink is far too small to wash stuff in. I didn’t have enough room to do my rugby clothing, so I think I’ll just wash it and then hang it out to dry somewhere. Blah. But I did use my Nook a lot…read like 2 books while I was waiting. How wonderful life is :-)

            I have my final class schedule now, shown below

My new Marine Environments class has only met twice so I won’t be far behind at all, plus Rebecca is in it. The worst part about this is my 10am class on Friday. I mean, I will never miss it because it's Irish and I'll fall behind, but it's a pain since Thursday is really the big socializing night. <sigh> Oh well, I can always save money anyway, though actually I'm doing pretty well so far. Food-wise and drink-wise I'm set...the only things I've spent a lot of money on are books and rugby stuff. Also some field trips.

            Excitement: David Tennant and Catherine Tate (Doctor and Donna) are gonna be in “Much Ado About Nothing” this April in London. I neeeeeeeed to go. Like fo realz.

Slán go fóill!

I own a scrumcap!!!

            So I found out some interesting facts about UCC, thanks to the very informative Wikipedia page, that I want to share:

~UCC was founded in conjunction with the University Colleges Galway and Dublin, mostly because St. Finbarr, the patron saint of Cork, had his school of learning and his monastery here hundreds of years ago.

~On a similar note, the college motto is “Where Finbarr taught, let Munster learn” (Cork is in County Cork, which in turn is in Munster province, one of five provinces in Ireland)

~The UCC medical school graduated two women in 1898, twenty years before Oxford did, and also many years before most other institutions did.

~UCC was the first Irish institution to use embryonic stem cells in their research, in 2008.

~Famous UCC attendees include actress Dame Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley), comedian Graham Norton (did not graduate), actor Cillian Murphy (did not graduate), and rugby player for the Irish national team Ronan O’Gara.

            Rebecca and I went shopping on Monday for rugby stuff for our upcoming game on Wednesday…eek! I’m really excited but at the same time extremely nervous. I mean, you guys know how I get before games at Bowdoin—just imagine that plus the fact I’ve only practiced twice before this game since our season ended in November. Oh shenanigans. Also I realized Bowdoin has spoiled me so so so so much: here we have to buy our own shorts, socks, Underarmour, and scrumcap. Though now at least I own my own scrumcap and I won’t have to fight for a sweaty one that fits back at Bowdoin slash just not wear one in the game. Good investment, I believe.

            The IFSA group had our first get-together since we’ve been at UCC at this little Japanese-esque/noodle restaurant called Wagamamas (interesting name…) on Monday night. It was nice to see the others since we've split up kinda to do our own thing with our new-found friends. I’m very happy about that, though, since I really enjoy the people I’ve been hanging out with. Good times fa shizzle. One group had gone to the Aran Islands this past weekend and I really really want to go. Probably in February or something…idk. Also, the food was REALLY GOOD. When we asked what we could order, they told us to get whatever! So of course everyone ordered a ton of food since we didn’t have to cook it; a common theme was that this was the first meal we’d been completely full at since our first night lol. I got gyoza, yaki soba (Google it, don’t wanna explain haha), and this fantastic bowl of ice cream with fresh berries. Yay fruit!

            Rafa and I went to the Guarda today (Tuesday) to register, but I was unable because I didn’t have a form. DO NOT PANIC!!! (That’s to you, Mother :-P ) I just need to have my bank send me a statement and I’ll be fine. They’re very chill here. Did you know the Guarda aren’t armed at all? Also they have these neon yellow jackets that are awesome yet kind of funny. I’m still intimidated, but they’re a lot more approachable than the police back home. For example, if I were walking home alone at night and for some reason felt unsafe, I could call them up and they would a) stay on the phone with me until I got to my room or b) come and get me if necessary. How nice! Though I’m sure the ones at home would do that too (maybe?), I don’t think I’d ever think of calling them for that…

            Today we had our last rugby practice before the game tomorrow night against Ballincollig, which is a real women’s team—that is, not college women. OY. The thing about practices here is that everything happens really fast, like transitions between drills and the drills themselves, so while we only go for 1.5 hours we get soooooo much done. Lots of fitness, some fitness plus passing, and tons of contact, which is different from home. We do a lot of handling at Bowdoin and only do contact twice a week, which I guess is technically the same amount of time, but it feels more often haha. Possibly because it’s a lot more intense—no one “pulls punches” like at home for fear of tackling a teammate. I kinda like it…it’s so much more game-like and I’ve def gotten better at tackling. I’ll probably write again tomorrow or Thursday about the game, so stay tuned. There may even be pictures!

Slán go fóill!!

Gaining the "gift of gab"

            Well the past couple days have been wonderfully busy, or at least hectic. I’m technically still not in my Immunology class (waiting for the International Office to get back to me), but I’ve decided to take Marine Biology as my backup just in case. But I’ve actually started learning real stuff in Irish—I can count and talk about the weather and name random objects! I’m practically fluent, obviously. I just joined a class about King Arthur and how he is seen in Celtic mythology, which includes some Welsh lore as well as Irish. I have to say, Irish has some weird pronunciation, but Welsh takes the cake. For example, “dd” is pronounced as “th,” but only sometimes. When, you might ask? Well, it really depends. Something I did learn about Irish—there are multiple dialects that say the same thing very differently. “Hello” in Munster Irish is Dia dhuit (dee-ah hwit) while in Irish from Galway it is Dia duit (dee-ah ditch). A little different, don’t you think?

            Thursday night Rafa, Alyssa, Claire, Katie, and I had a nice cocktail party before going to one of the clubs called The Bailey (without a cover charge thank goodness) where Claire, aka Paula Dean, cooked for us and basically was the best hostess ever. And when she’s had some to drink she gains a heavy Southern accent, though she’s from Indiana. We saw some of my roommates there, which was really fun since I never really hang out with them outside of our room. It was a fun night that we ended by going to Tasty Kebab to order our new favorite food—cheese and garlic chips (fries). I’m not exactly sure what is in them, but that’s probably better. SO GOOD. AND cheaper than the place by Vic Lodge, so wins all around.

            Friday we went to the Franciscan Well Brewery (once run by monks) where they brew all of their own beer. It was soooo crowded but we lucked out (or so we thought) and found a table upstairs. However, turns out that it was some poor girl’s birthday party and we totally crashed it. She was really nice though and let us stay until her friends came to kick us out. After we were all hungry so we went back to Tasty Kebab (it’s rather tasty), though I stopped by Eddie Rocket’s to get another fantastic milkshake. Love ‘em. That is something I do miss—having a blender. Making smoothies all the time was such a privilege…now I have to go buy smoothie-in-a-carton instead, though they are incredibly good. They’re called Innocent Smoothies, basically similar to Odwalla, and my strawberry banana smoothie the other day was perfect. I’m eating fruit, for once.

            But TODAY was epic—we went to Blarney Castle!! And unlike last Saturday it was a beautiful sunny day out, and while cold it wasn’t unbearable. To get to the castle we took a bus right from the center of Cork, then walked a bit through a field and over some (read: a lot of) rivers. It is so beautiful there! It was even misty—stereotypical Ireland haha. And all of the sudden the castle rose in front of us up on a hill. Quite breathtaking. The dungeons were first, and although it was not raining they were still wet and full of puddles. Also, these Irish must have been freaking tiny, because the doorway are really short; it was a little hard for someone my height to maneuver. Guess it’s good I live in an age where we like spacious ceilings and such. There was this small tunnel that went 16m under the castle that they believe was an attempt by an invading army to dig up into the castle, but was never finished. We had to squat-crawl through it and there was nothing at the end, but it was cool nevertheless. After making our way through the cold stone rooms and windy staircases and hole-y floors of the inside of the castle, we finally made it to the roof, where the Blarney Stone is. Most people know about my great fear of heights and how I swore to not kiss the Blarney Stone (also it’s gross, I think) but my tourist-iness got the better of me and I did it! Not nearly as scary as I thought it’d be…especially since I closed my eyes and did NOT look at the ground. This very old man held my legs as I bent over backwards to kiss the stone, and kiss it I did. So apparently now I have the gift of gab. Pssht like I didn’t before :-P

            Although the castle is the most famous part of Blarney, there’s actually a whole lot more around, like Blarney Lake (gorgeous view, especially with the sun on the water), Blarney House (closed until spring, sadly), and the Rock Close. There are all sorts of legends associated with the last place, including a set of stairs called the Wishing Stairs that apparently will grant you your wish within a year…but only if you walk up and down them with your eyes closed while thinking only of your wish. Despite the fact they were slippery stone and crumbling, we totally did it. There was also a Druids Circle, complete with sacrificial altar. We sacrificed Rebecca on it, complete with praying Druids all around. So hilarious! Originally we wanted to stay for the sunset, but we were all hungry and decided to go get some noms in the town before our bus back, though obviously after a little shopping. I got another sweater, though this one is authentic Merino wool from Ireland and is sooooooo soft and was on sale! I love sales. I plan to get a claddagh ring as well, though not from a tourist trap town like Blarney since I need to save my cash moneys for delicious garlic cheese fries.

            I have some super exciting news: I HAVE SKYPE NOW. I feel a little betrayed—the IT guy told me it just wasn’t possible for it to work because the network didn’t support it, but he LIED to me. Our relationship is broken beyond repair, I think. It’s lucky that my roommate’s friend was able to fix her Skype, and by association, mine. So if anyone wants to chat, def let me know because we have to coordinate schedules. This darn time difference does make it hard to talk to people; as much as I love getting to see my friends/family, staying up until 2am day after day is hard. But I do want to talk to you all :-) Tomorrow I think we’re planning a group dinner, since Sundays are usually spent totally alone and I do miss human contact occasionally.

Slán go fóill!

P.S. Something I learned in Irish class—Slán go fóill (goodbye until later) is actually the response to Slán (goodbye), so technically I’m using the phrase wrong. Oh well!

Tonnes and tonnes of pix

I figured it would be easier to just link to a Picasa photo album with lots of pictures than trying to choose a few and post them directly in the blog. This covers from me leaving the US to the epicness today at Blarney Castle.  Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/107282648320684236952/IrelandTheBeginning?feat=directlink

Cé hé tusa? (kay hay too-sa?)

            My friend Claire and I went to see “The King’s Speech” (with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush) on Sunday and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It could be because I’m a little in love with all of the actors, but it was so good! And there were awesome moments of humor as well…Geoffrey Rush is hilarious. After, Claire was craving a burger so we went to a restaurant called Eddie Rockets (I can only assume it’s a knockoff of Johnny Rockets) which was basically an American diner set in the 50s or so. I got a milkshake which was good, but it really just made me wish I had a blender here so I could make my own haha. Milkshakes and smoothies…one thing I do miss about the States. They really don’t have them here at all. Also, NO STARBUCKS. Which isn’t the end of the world, but I do have a crapton of money on my Starbucks gift card that I figured I could use here. I mean, they’re everywhere…why aren’t they in Cork? We also went to Dunne’s to get groceries, which was so unbelievably necessary. Saturday night I ate two hamburger buns with butter…oh the life of a college student. I got this cream of chicken soup in a carton that is so good! And a frozen garlic bread baguette, which I devoured. Such a win. But I should go real grocery shopping soon…talking to Megan made me crave mashed potatoes.

            Archaeology is still pretty interesting, or at least the professor is. We’re learning about the “transition from the Mesolithic to Neolithic period” and while I’m not exactly enthralled with the subject matter at the moment, he has a way of making me care at least a little. I did have my first Intro to Modern Irish class today and I’ve already learned a few things! Dia dhuit is hello (literally “God to you”) and the correct response is Dia Muire duit (God and Mary to you) because you can’t just repeat what someone said—that would be rude. But what happens if someone opens with Dia Muire duit? Well, then you start adding saints’ names; the next version is Dia Muire dhuit an Pádraig (Pádraig is Patrick). And so on and so forth…you just keep adding saints’ names on and on. I mean, it’s not like people just keep saying hello—it’s for if someone uses a version of hello further down on the list. But more phrases!! My name is Colleen= Is mise Colleen (pronounced “Ihs MI-scha Colleen), and the title of this post means “What’s your name?” More lessons will come as we go on…apparently this is a speaking class mostly so we’ll be talking most of the time. The biggest problem is that the sounds are soooooo different—there’s dh which is impossible to phonetically write and then instances like bord (bored)=table but ar an mbord (ar an mord)=on the table. You see how the m sound just completely replaces the b? Yeah, weird stuff like that. But it seems like a fun class, and at least by the end I’ll be able to theoretically describe my weekend and stuff like that. The prof says that the Irish love to complain about the weather, so I guess that means I’m really Irish already since that’s now my topic of choice haha. We’re taking a field trip in a couple weeks to a Gaeltacht (guailtach), or Gaelic-speaking area, which should be loads of fun. I've ALMOST finalized my classes: Archaeology of Ireland, Intro to Modern Irish, Celtic Folklore, the Celtic King Arthur (something like that), and POSSIBLY the Immunology class. I'm not sure about the last one, but I should find out soon. If not, I'm thinking of taking a marine biology class both to fill my last credit and because I've always loved marine biology.

            My biffle the IT guy is coming again tomorrow so I’ll be down in the common room hopefully getting Skype fixed. I’m almost at the point where I’m considering ritual sacrifice and all that jazz. Jeff sent me a huge Ethernet cord so once I do get vid chat I’ll be able to show people practically the whole apartment :-) The parental heard my plea for books (I swear books and Ben & Jerry’s are rare items here) but instead of just sending me some random ones I’d have to throw away :-( they got me an e-book reader! AH. So. EXCITED. It’s not here yet, but I’ve already started planning what I’ll be reading. This does mean I’ll be on the computer less, but I think that’s probably a good thing haha.

            Went to rugby practice again today but my inability to breathe through my cough meant that I just watched, which was both a blessing and a curse. It was so unbelievably cold here (like in the 20s!!) and while that’s not bad for Maine, keep in mind I did not have the gear I usually prepare with up in the frozen northern wastelands. Also I always feel guilty not practicing, even though I really did have a legit excuse, so although I def can’t run right now I kept thinking about how much warmer/less guilty I’d be if I started doing fitness with the others. Then I realized I was going crazy. Rebecca came to practice today to try out rugby…I hope she liked it. It’s very very different from Bowdoin, where they wean you into the game pretty slowly, because here they definitely just threw her into drills and tackling and such, which was a lot for the first day. I don’t know if I would have been nearly as gung-ho about rugby if I had been that confused the first time they put me in drills. But I still love it and the team and the people. They're amazing and really have made me feel welcome even though I came in the middle of their season. It's wonderful!! We have our first game on the 26th, and I may play...?? It really depends on their numbers. On one hand, that'd be awesome. On the other, I think I'd die from nervousness. Oh well, we'll see. After practice ended (I seriously couldn’t feel my toes or my fingers) we went home and prepared for a quiet night out in the Old Lady Pub. At this point she knows our faces and greeted us as we walked in. It was nice—just me, Rafa, Claire, and Danielle sipping Bailey’s (delish) and chatting. Good times. And on the way home Claire, Danielle, and I stopped at Uni (a kebabish, which is a real word I swear to you) to get garlic-cheese fries. OMG heart-stoppingly delicious!!! So yeah, that’s pretty much my caloric intake for the next couple days. Wonderful.

Slán go fóill! (pronounced slahn g’foil, with a long o)

Singing in the rain is so overrated

The inner courtyard of the Cork City Gaol, right
past the gate where they would hang people.

Sometimes stereotypes are true…for example, “it rains a lot in Ireland.” Like a lot a lot. It’s rained every day I’ve been here, though mostly drizzle. However, today it POURED! We were supposed to go to Blarney Castle but this morning when I woke up and saw the miserable windy rainy day that awaited us, I realized I have a lot of other weekends that will at least be partially dry. So a bunch of us decided to go visit the Cork City Gaol (Jail) instead. It’s not the rain that’s the worst part (umbrellas help with that)—it’s the wind that breaks my umbrella when I try to use it. But the Gaol was so cool! Literally cool—it was definitely colder inside than outside in the rain. There are these wax people that they’re placed around to make it more realistic, and boy, lemme tell you they are pretty real looking. Like really scary. I would walk around the corner and BAM there’s a random guard who almost looks alive, but not quite. Very creepy, actually. They do nighttime tours where they tell ghost stories, but unfortunately we would have had to sign up way in advance and have more than 20 people. The gaol was plenty freaky in this storm, though.

Me next to Creepy Wax Prison
Guard #3. Very scary

I know I’ve updated some on my internet situation, but let me just put it all out there and explain the shenanigans that have occurred. Basically, to get internet in my room (Ethernet only) I needed to register with Victoria Lodge which happened last Friday, then someone in IT had to accept my registration, which happened Tuesday. BUT since Macs are apparently strange I needed to stalk the IT guy again on Wednesday so he could configure my browser, since although I was registered and everything my computer wouldn’t recognize the Internet. Now, finally, Safari works (I have to go back to get Firefox configured), but none of my video chats do. Apparently the network is run through a proxy (basically it protects the users of the network from dangerous things on the Internet, like viruses and weird stuff such) and to get Skype to work I need to change my proxy settings, but on Macs there’s no way to do that through Skype. So I had to download this app called Authoxy which is supposed to allow me to change the proxy settings for my whole computer. Only problem: guy who told me to do this a) didn’t know how to fix Macs and b) told me what to do kinda and left before I downloaded the program. So I’ve been Googling a lot to try and figure out how to use Authoxy and also what the freaking proxy settings are. If anyone knows what to do or knows someone who may, pleasepleaseplease let me know. I am so desperate here. And to top it off, my computer will no longer connect to the dorm wireless, so I can’t even Skype on that! Oy.

CHEESEBURGERS

Last night Rafa and I made burgers! OM NOM NOM RED MEAT. The English Market has amazing fresh local food and we got 4 burgers there for 4 euro along with buns and cheese. First red meat I've had since I've gotten here lol and boy they were delish. Then we went to the Old Lady Bar again except this time it was really really crowded. Dislike. But I tried hot whiskey—heated whiskey, hot water, sugar, and lemon—for the first time and it was actually pretty good. I mean, small sips were necessary but with a little more sugar I think I’d really love it. And I am so not a fan of whiskey plain, so I was surprised I liked this not-mixed drink. There is apparently a place downtown that sells real cocktails (Long Islands, martinis, etc) but is really expensive so we’re waiting for someone’s birthday so we can go there and not feel as guilty. Or else we might have a “bar night” where we make our own drinks and be super classy. I tried Bailey’s for the first time and it is rather good.

The tissues I bought from Centra. I'm not really
sure why they're Mansize or even what that
means, but I really needed them so no
complaints here!

Well for the rest of this day I plan to catch up on Castle episodes and drink tea and eat my Kit Kats (I bought more!!!) and not do anything productive because it is absolutely miserable outside. Today is such a duvet day.

Slán go fóill!

Thursday is a rugby day...?

            I woke up sick Wednesday morning (possibly having to do with my little trek home in the rain) so I basically did nothing all day. The internet wasn’t working again so I’ve been writing postcards and watching Ellen. Hey Mom, Josh Groban was on this episode! Yeah, I love him a little bit. Once the interwebs begin working again I am so buying his album. I think this cold is making me emotional, because I was def tearing up when Ellen gave a car and a trip to her show to a woman with 5 boys who’d lost her job and her husband in 6 months. It was so wonderful! But yeah, not usually a teary person so I blame my inability to breathe.

            Bonded with my roomies today, which was nice. I also talked a lot with Jessie (the one who brought the tons of people back to the apartment) and I like her a lot…the whole incident seems out of character so nbd now. She watches The West Wing and offered to lend me the 1^st and 2^nd seasons, which automatically makes her awesome in my book. And my other ones, Sarah, Jenna, and Alyssa, are all from Quinnipiac and are friends already but they never make me feel awkward or excluded or anything. We’re planning a “roomies go out” night soon, possibly Thursday. I have to say, I got really lucky with them, and even though they’re not Irish I’m still glad we’re living together.

            Rafa and I went to a men’s rugby game Wednesday night which was super fun! Even though UCC lost it was still awesome to see Irish rugby. It just makes me more excited to play. We actually went to practice tonight with the UCC women’s team and omg so fun! I realized how much I missed rugby, and it’s even better since there’s no pressure on me to be amazing. There are other people who play my position and I don’t need to be the best. I dunno if I’ll even be starting. I do feel a little bit like I’m cheating on Bowdoin, though, but I’m sure I’ll get over it. The girls are awesome and since practice is only Tues and Thurs I’ll still have time for other things. Rafa and took the 8 bus there and made it to the stop okay. However, things only went down from there. The captain didn’t really give us great directions to the field and so we kinda just picked a direction and wandered. Rafa was a pansy and wouldn’t jump a stream to get to the field that led to the field we wanted to be on. She was too afraid she’d “fall and hit her mouth.” Not her head, her mouth. Oh priorities :-P So we finally made it there (30 min late) but luckily we missed the fitness portion and got to tackle and pass. What I remembered is that I cannot catch a wet ball to save my life. However, I did do rather well in the scrimmage…I got the ball and pwnd a couple people with my badassness. And my shirt got ripped! If that’s not a sign of awesome idk what is. We have a game in 2 weeks which I may or may not play in, but at least I’ll get to see superawesomeIrishrugby!!! At the end of practice (where it rained so I was covered in mud) a girl gave me a ride home. Unfortunately the only tape she was “Country Hits of 1966-1975”…I kid you not. Kinda fun though- I do love “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. Rafa and I went to party with them tonight and bond with the team…it made me really miss Bowdoin socials actually though it was still SO FUN. I’m glad to know rugby is as awesome/crazy here in Ireland as at Bowdoin. When we walked in they first sang at us, then asked us where we were from; when we said NY, the entire team broke into an a cappella rendition of "Empire State of Mind." So good! We also taught them a song and thus we’ve apparently been accepted to the team…YAY! Unfortunately I am still rather ill (despite chugging orange juice like it’s my job) and went home early to blow my nose and sleep. But I bet Rafa had tons of fun that I expect her to tell me about.

            “Duvet day” is my new favorite Irish saying. As some can probably guess, it describes a day when you just stay in bed or laze around Also, it def describes how I feel most of the time. But it was in the 50s today!! That’s a big deal. AND it wasn’t raining, so I was able to wear nice clothes without a sweater. Superawesome, guys. Folklore is going to be such an awesome class, but we’re learning about the history of how folklore became popular so it’s a little dry now. Even our prof admits this is the least interesting part of the course. But I do enjoy it regardless. Rafa and I were kinda bored after class so obvs we watched TV since althoughtota it isn’t raining, it’s still not the “frolic around” kind of weather. We flipped through Oprah, BAKE! (a cooking show that made me crave quiche), and the Golden Girls before settling on a children’s show (seriously). There were these tiny big eyed freaky looking round things speaking who didn’t speak in complete sentences making children do yoga and build things on the side of hill, where they inevitably fell over. It was too strange for us so we changed back to Golden Girls. I do love that show. And then we watched “How Clean Is Your House?” where these two women teach people how not to be disgusting. It was strangely addicting. Rafa and I decided that once our Irish classes start we’re going to watch the channel that’s almost all in Irish to learn more. It’s like how I watch Telemundo to learn Spanish, though I have to admit I think my view of Hispanic culture when I first started watching was that it was extremely dramatic. And there are Irish soap operas so I’m totally going to be the most dramatic Irish speaker (or partial speaker) ever. I’m so excited!!

Well exciting news: I has teh interwebz in my room! Except any sort of video chat does not work. I’ll keep you all updated on the IT shenanigans. But now that I can at least surf the internet in my room as opposed to awkwardly loitering in the common room, I’ve been catching up on Castle episodes. I forgot how much I love this show! Nathan Fillion is the bomb…I’m so glad he got another show that is almost as good as Firefly.

Slán go fóill!


P.S. You should also read Rafa's blog at rafabroadinireland.blogspot.com

Pictures again!

Since my internet refuses to publish posts and pictures at the same time, here's the second batch!

Rafa displaying the Kit Kat that makes my life complete. I plan to buy more, as I have already eaten all of mine.

A view from one of the bridges crossing one of the rivers in Cork. It really is such a beautiful area. 

The Quadrangle (aka quad) of UCC. This is the main building, and it totally looks like Hogwarts!! 

 The Beamish brewery is right in downtown Cork. It's actually probably my favorite beer I've tried here so far.

My stir fry! OM NOM NOM veggies.

"The Irish are useless, aren't they? They're like 'Oh if it's not potatoes I won't eat it.'"

            So apparently Ireland has cocaine wars? I really didn’t know that these were a problem. Well, anyway, there’s a show about it—“Ireland’s Cocaine Wars: A Brother For A Brother.” Very very interesting… Lemme just say, getting British TV (even though we don’t get BBC) is fantastic. I’ve watched a lot of Graham Norton omg I love him. I watched an episode on Monday with Keanu Reaves, though I’m not sure it was the real one because he seemed too lively. Not dead enough in the eyes. Except I actually really loved him on it…he was so. funny. He just kept telling hilarious story after hilarious story (Rafa and I were hardcore strangely attracted to him, despite his beard) and now I really want to go see his new movie Henry’s Crime a lot a lot a lot. They played a version of Never-Have-I-Ever and one of the women said “I have never kissed Keanu Reaves,” as if expecting to on the show. And for Brittany—Morgause from MERLIN was on it too. I was struck by how pretty she is and how evil she is…not?

            Fact: no one likes gypsies. To quote Rafa, “France just had all of their gypsies deported to Romania.” For some reason there is a universal dislike of them and their culture. Well, now there is a show that gives us the behind-the-scenes of the gypsy, or Traveller, life—it is called “The Truth About Travellers.” In this spellbinding episode, a Traveller named Stacie (who looked 30 but was in fact 18) was married off in an actually pretty nice ceremony. However, her dress looked looked a mess…it was huge and white but was over-sequined and definitely parted in the middle to show her midriff. And her makeup made her appear a cheap hooker—it was loud and proud (though it shouldn’t be) and she had a tan that would make the cast of The Jersey Shore wince. And her bridesmaids, OH her bridesmaids: they had the same giant hoop skirt Stacie wore so happily but in a lovely neon blue color. A lot of the young guests wore the gaudiest prom dresses one could possibly imagine, with sequins and neon fabric and beading and fake diamonds and heavy tans and halter tops and a lack of stomach covering (though they were only about 11). My conclusions: Travellers (at least on this show) can be recognized by their excess of sparkles and fake tans. I am very interested in their culture though, don’t get me wrong. This was just a ridiculous TV episode. To quote Rafa again, as the bride became emotional after the wedding, “Oh no don’t cry your tan might wash off!”

            Well be proud—Rafa and I went to the gym at Mardyke Arena on Monday night. After an initially confusing wander around the facility, we finally found the weight room. But there were only men. Seriously. We were the only women. And a huge problem we hadn’t really considered was the conversion from pounds to kilograms; 10 lbs is most definitely not 10 kg. After an initially awkward beginning in which we couldn’t figure out the damn machines, the workout went rather well. A little strange and full of weight guesswork, but fun! It was nice to be active again, considering I’ve been eating nothing but pasta for a couple days. Yeah, I didn't make stir fry that night…dammit! I DID, however, make it today for lunch! (see picture below) Twas delish, though I’m not very good at cooking rice.

            Excitement! Some may remember my obsession with the Award-winning animated movie Brendan and the Book of Kells, and I still stand by that…watch it now! The animation is breathtakingly gorgeous, the music is wonderful, and the movie itself is cute as well. But anyway, we’re going to study The Book of Kells in my archaeology class omg so happy. It’ll be interesting learning about it from that point of view, rather than gaining all of my knowledge from an animated movie lol. Seriously, go watch it right now. Go.

            Apparently Ben & Jerry’s is a high-value commodity here, because I bought a pint for 7 euro. That’s like $9. However, it was totally worth it and I can forget its wallet-draining price as I nom on this delicious treat. I regret nothing. I take nothing back. I also bought more of the delicious American Brownie Cookies that I loved last time because I demolished the Kit Kats last night. It was a full-blown massacre…there was some epic carnage. But the gym totally negates that, right? And I walked all the way home from town in the rain which made it double the distance no matter what anyone says.

Slán go fóill!

P.S. Title quote is from The Graham Norton Show. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has not seen it.

UCC=field trips galore!

            Life has been rather boring these past couple days. Sunday I pretty much did nothing except be sick and sit on my computer all day. That was pretty exciting, let me tell you. I realized that I was almost completely out of food, but I really didn’t want to so I just scavenged around and ended up eating plain spaghetti (I’m about halfway done with my kg that I bought my 2^nd day here) with some of the huge amount of butter that we have around here. Not too bad, though I did go shopping today (Monday). I’ve decided on stir fry. I figure I need to get something other than pasta in my diet before I get scurvy and my hair starts to fall out. Though I have drunk 2 L of orange juice in the past 3 days so I think I should be okay…

            Good story: so last night I’m lying in bed (having gone to bed early for once) unable to fall asleep unfortunately so I venture out into the common room to use some internetz. Obviously no one is there because a) it’s 2am and b) they have teh internetz in their own rooms. I was very comfortably sitting on the couch when all of the sudden A GAZILLION drunk people barge in with beer and music and general loudness. I was a little shocked. Especially since I didn’t see my roommate right away (we really don’t talk much anyway) and I literally thought there were random people coming to drink in my room. Rather surprising, I’d say. So I’m sitting there in my pajamas and rainbow socks kinda in shock and a little embarrassed about the fact I’m in PAJAMAS AND RAINBOW SOCKS. But the Irish peoples don’t notice me initially, I think, come to sit on the couch, and look rather surprised to find me there. One of the girls tried to get me to stay and drink, but I was def like “Nope, peace out.” A lot of them did shake my hand, which was odd yet rather nice? And one of the guys promised to keep the noise down. Yeah, he def didn’t. They were there until FOUR AM. On a Sunday night! Wtf. And half the time they were singing a wonderful rendition of Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?” while the other half was just screaming. Eventually I fell asleep but it was pretty hard with the shenanigans down the hall. Apparently my other roommates talked to her but she didn’t do anything! How rude. I mean, she’s been here a year so maybe things are different here but still, there is common courtesy that is common throughout countries and cultures—it’s called common for a reason. And I felt bad because I was chatting with Jeff and I def freaked out when everyone came in and hung up on him rather rapidly without any explanation. Sorry, you!

            Went to Archaeology today and learned that we would be taking 2 field trips to rather ancient sites around Ireland. SO EXCITED. And with my Learn Gaelic class (which hopefully I will get into) we also take trips. And I think we’re going to Blarney Castle this weekend. So, essentially, my life here consists of pasta, walking everywhere, pints, and field trips. I like it.

Slán go fóill!

PICTURES, finally

This is my dirty clothes hamper. HOW CUTE. I will most definitely bring this back and use it at Bowdoin. I think I'm in love, actually...

This is my room pre-putting-stuff-away. (Mom, I swear it's a lot cleaner now!) It's kind of an L-shape, with the part in the picture being the bottom part. I'm in the top of the L, and my bathroom is just to my right (it's too small to really take a picture of, plus who wants that?)

This is my kitchen! It's actually really really nice and big, and all the utensils/plates/pots/pans were provided for us. Basically we just needed to buy food.

And this is my common room! It's attached to the kitchen (it's behind me) but has a surprisingly large amount of space. There's wireless right by the window, so that's where I spend a lot of my time (and where I am right now).

Sweaters and shenanigans

Hello again!

            So I forgot some…interesting…stories from our first night out on Thursday. We walked in and immediately realized we were wearing far more clothing than any of the other girls there. Seriously, like tiny dresses and high, HIGH heels. Actually the “going out” fashion here is a little strange. For those who watch Jersey Shore, a lot of girls sport the Snookie poof and have incredible amounts of makeup on...so unnatural! It’s funny coming to Ireland and seeing that people here dress, not like movies show, but instead like Jersey Shore characters. But we couldn’t find a table ANYWHERE…except next to this couple that was hardcore making out. Like, they were really going at it. It was uncomfortable to see, let alone sit next to. Yet we did, and thankfully they eventually left. But for a while Rebecca and I (who were sitting next to them) were crowding each other in the corner trying not to be anywhere near them.

            Class-wise I’ve been having some difficulty getting my schedule down. Originally UCC approved me for the two Biochem classes I wanted and that will count towards my major at Bowdoin, but suddenly I can no longer take the Biochemical Immunology that I wanted to, which leaves me 5 credits short of the 30 I need. And I may not be able to take the Bioinformatics class either, which totally screws me up. So I’ll be going to see the International Office on Monday…hopefully they’ll help me figure this out.

            I suppose I should actually put my address up here just in case anyone feels like mailing me things:

Colleen Maher

Room 75, Apt 1

Victoria Lodge

Victoria Cross

Cork

Ireland

They told us that, when sending packages, you should declare it to be “student personal effects” so it won’t be taxed. Just fyi in the off chance anyone wants to send anything.

            A funny link to keep you all entertained, here’s the original version of Monty Python’s “The Lumberjack Song,” kindly shown to me by Jeff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiVOG199X2c

            We’ve started planning spring break and weekends already…omg so many places to go in so little time! We’ve kind of planned Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day, and the other places are Ring of Kerry, the Blarney Stone (it’s very close to Cork), Galway, Scotland, Wales, Brussels, Germany, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Florence, Rome, The Vatican (b/c I want to be the Pope), and Prague. I’m not sure we’ll make it to all these places, but it’s fun planning regardless. We’re thinking of stopping at the British Royal Wedding in April at the end of break. It will be epic!

            Today we went to a real pub that we call the Old Lady Pub because it’s run and bartended by this wonderful old lady who wears a blazer and skirt. It’s actually adorable. There were no crazy college kids this time...just a few people quietly talking. It was definitely nice to be able to chat with my friends for once. She found a great rugby match (Munster vs Glasgow) for us and told us that this was actually happening right in Cork! So obviously Rafa and I are going to a game ASAP. We will most definitely be revisiting that place.

            Excitement: I got a sweater! And I love it a lot. It’s grey and wool and warm and I plan to wear it often. And I also found Kit Kat for a reasonable price!! So of course I got 2 packs. It was really a wonderfully fantastic day.

Slán go fóill!

Pub-hopping and cookie-baking

I’m updating again only because last night was so epic…and because it’s raining rather hard and I have nothing else to do lol.

I pretty much watched TV and wrote and went on the internet for most of yesterday afternoon (idk where my roommates went to), but I did get to see some fantastic game shows, Spongebob in Irish, and Judge Judy! But finally Rebecca and Rafa did come over to pry me from my solitude and we did end up making cookies, though it was a lot harder than I think it should have been. It basically was a powder mix that you add water and butter to, except the butter measurement was 25 grams. So there we are, painstakingly guessing what 25 grams looks like…I still have no idea if we actually got it. But the mess did turn into cookie dough that baked and tasted rather delicious (despite the burning...), so our complete guessing seems to have worked. We went to Rafa’s place so she could eat (finally, at like 9) and on the way bought some Bulmer’s, which, for those who don’t know, is the best Irish hard cider to get. We watched a rugby game (Dragons vs Connaght(sp?)) and explained to Rebecca and Rafa’s roommate Lou what the eff was going on. Honestly, we almost didn’t go out because we were all falling asleep on the couches, but as neither Lou nor I had been out yet we decided it was time. We went to this pub called An Brog that we heard was cheap where we met a bunch of my friends from IFSA (my program). They had €3 pints until 11, so obviously we took advantage of that and stopped ordering pints at 11 lol. I tried my first Guinness and it was actually rather good. I’m not such a fan of dark beer, but this was a lot better than anything in the states. I also had Murphy’s, another dark beer, and it was pretty good as well. But my favorite of the night were these things called apple shots, which literally tasted like an apple! They were 2 for 1 so we decided to share and try them, but I didn’t expect them to be so good! Funny story though: when I went to the bathroom a couple of girls there asked me where I was from and when I said New York they immediately bombarded me with questions about the area. I just pretended to be from the city since that was easier, but mostly what they wanted to know is if I'd ever been to the Jersey Shore. That's a bit of an obsession here, that show, especially Mike "The Situation". "Sadly" I'd never met him but it was still fun talking to them! But that was it for the night because we weaklings were tired. It’s a bit of a walk from town to my dorm, but I was happy from the night so I didn’t mind at all.

I slept late (finally) and when I woke up it was raining REALLY HARD so I immediately knew I wasn’t going anywhere. But literally AS I was getting into the shower the fire alarm went off! Some dumb peoples on the floor below us don’t freaking know how to cook so we had to stand out in the rain for 10 minutes. BOO DISLIKE. My first thought was, “Oh god I hope that wasn’t me…not again!”

So a note on Irish TV: the commercials are very, very strange. There’s one with a loaf of bread singing Christmas carols, another where a stick figure woman with single strands of hair sticking straight up singing “Somebody to Love” (for Confused.com, a dating site), and, my favorite, CGI babies roller skating in an Evian commercial to “stay young.” That last one is really scary, actually. Then I just saw one with giant flying flight attendants, for Virgin mobile. No lie, dudes.

I’ve been told I need to go to these two restaurants called Kiwi and Mango, so maybe I’ll try that this weekend. Also the local brewery (Beamish) runs tours so I think I’m gonna go on that, perhaps. I’ll drag Rafa along with me, per usual lol. I’m definitely getting used to the accents by now, and I think I’m starting to use some slang. Like telling people to “cop on,” aka use common sense.

Things that I like about buying my own food: no one takes my cookies, I can drink straight from the orange juice carton, I cook (and clean) only for myself. Things that I miss about having Mom buy food for me: really good meals, being able to afford more than basic essentials, a dishwasher. What we realized is that for some reason we have 7 packs of butter in our fridge…and only 5 roommates. A bit of a mystery, actually.

Slán go fóill!