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)