WHOOPS
Hey so.
Haven’t updated in a minute.
Sorry about that!
Anyway, I’m finishing up one now and writing a few more, but I’m in the midst of spring break and though I have tales to tell of Paris and London, my family is getting to Dublin in about six hours (LESS THAN, ACTUALLY) so I’m not too keen to write right now. Also, I’m sleepy.
But yeah, one from a month ago coming up!
Baby steps!
Today was pretty uneventful but also SO HUGE BECAUSE I COOKED MEAT BY MYSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DID NOT GIVE MYSELF SALMONELLA (I hope).
I’ve been afraid of cooking meat because I feel like I’ve never, ever been served meat by one of my peers and then not found it to be largely uncooked. I just didn’t think 20-somethings were capable of cooking meat all the way through.
Well, I broke through that, and made myself dinner:
Got some rice, got some veggies, got some FULLY COOKED CHICKEN, all covered in Uncle Ben’s medium curry sauce aww yeah.
And yes, milk in a Carlsberg glass because that’s all we have in this apartment.
Anyway, good thing I got over this fear because I went grocery shopping today and got chicken (only two lil breasts though [LOL]), ground beef, and sausages. I should just have a feast.
After my AMAZING, SATISFYING, (mostly) HOME-COOKED MEAL, I went to Bewley’s with Meredith and Annija for some coffees and desserts though when I say “coffees” I mean I got cocoa because I’m a child/can’t drink caffeine past a certain hour or I’ll be up all night. Here is my walnut coffee cake.
I just want to draw everyone’s attention to the Leslie Knope-approved portion of whipped cream that came with that cake. I might be up all night anyway. That was a lot of sugar.
A lot.
Of.
Sugar.
Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that I can feed myself properly !!!yay!!!
Kilkenny Saturday
One thing UCD has been very good at is organizing trips around the country for us so we get to see different parts of Ireland for a low cost. In this case, free.99. My favorite.
As we’ve come to expect, it was cold, rainy and dreary on Saturday but it is Ireland so what can you do. The trip into Kilkenny was about an hour and a half or so, so we all got nice naps on the bus on our way over. When we got to Kilkenny, we were dropped off in front of Roethe House (also across the street from the Smithwick’s brewery, which regrettably, we did not get to tour) (ps., for those who don’t know - pronounce it Smittick’s and not Smith-wick’s or else we’ll all know you’re American). The Roethes were basically this really wealthy merchant family in the 17th century so good for them, and their house has been restored by the historical society because Ireland loves it some historical buildings. It was pretty nice! One interesting thing about the building itself was that none of the relics inside were actually from the Roethe family - just donations and purchases (very few purchases) to/by the historical society.
Here is a rant!
I get that the “study” part of “study abroad” is largely a joke (mom and dad: BUT NOT TO ME) but I seriously just want to slap some people on this trip and tell them “BE RESPECTFUL.” As is frequently the case with historical houses, we had a tour guide who gave us a very detailed history of the house and family, as well as some historical context of outside events so we could get a better idea of what was happening. As we were walking around I overheard some girl saying “I wish they would give us less history about stuff and just let us walk around and ooh and aah at things.”
Really?
That completely defeats the purpose of going on trips like this - you’re supposed to LEARN things, not just get some RLY KEUT PIX OF U N ALL UR FRENZ IN FRON OF DIS KEWL DOOR. Or whatever.
End of rant.
After Roethe House we went for lunch in this really pretty hotel. Just soups and sandwiches, nothing fancy, so we got second lunch at a cafe. Just bagels, but we’d also stopped at a CANDY STORE that was seriously like the one out of Willy Wonka and there were FREE SAMPLES (my priorities).
I kinda regret not going to Kilkenny Castle but oh well, these things happen. Again, it’s not too far, so I’ll get back.
Bleep bloop that was it!
Cultural Studies
Guess who’s making friends? Oh yeah, it’s me.
In my small group for critical theory, I’ve ended up in group projects with this kid Liam both this and last class and today at the end we started talking and, as we both had about an hour of free time to kill before our next classes, went down to the student union for some snacks and conversation. He was very open about the fact that he’s terrifically interested in America and was asking me a lot about how things are different in the US, what I think of Ireland so far, what do we have that they don’t and vice versa…it was fun.
One thing that will never get old to me is how many students commute or go home on weekends. Liam is born & raised in Dublin and still lives at home. For one thing, when we began talking about my semester here he said he thought it must be hard for me, being so far away from my family & unable to see them, not to mention living in a dorm. Which, I mean, yeah, it’s hard to not be on the same time schedule and not be able to get in touch with them as easily, but I already go to school pretty far away from them to begin with. When I told him that, that where I go to university and where I’m from is about five hours apart, he looked really surprised and asked if I commuted five hours every day. Sillypants! One of my roommates is a commuter as well. Laura’s from Kilkenny so she goes home every weekend. We were talking about it once and she asked if it was unusual for American students to go home, and I told her yeah, even if the kid goes to a university really close to home for the most part kids stay at or close to school the length of the semester.
Other than that, Liam and I talked a lot about candy. At the student union in front of the registers there’s a huge wall of candy, so I just pointed out all the ones we don’t have in the US, but made mention of any equivalents we have. When I said that we didn’t have Daim bars he got me one, but it turned out to taste just like a Heath bar because it basically was a Heath bar - just a different name and company.
Other things: Generally agreed that Irish people are very friendly, but just as well can be very crazy (as with anywhere, but some guy cut off a person’s hand in a post office just because once, so you know), Glen Hansard is an idiot, Cillian Murphy has a ridiculous accent, the differences in different parts of cities (specifically New York) is mind-boggling and, at least with my new friend here, DC is not perceived as being a particularly violent city abroad so high-five at that. I was explaining how bad parts of Southeast get to him and the violence that happens and he was just like “Washington DC? Where the President lives? Is a shady place?”
In other news, Irish people care about American football? Some do. A bunch of my friends had a Super Bowl party where we had tacos and nachos and puppychow and one of their Irish roommates, Ben, is involved in the UCD American Football Club (they play. Full contact. Just an FYI.) We had some pre-game commentary going on and kid was SOO into it. Whatever, I’m just glad we’re all done with that now! Moving on!
I’ve got a French roommate as well! Her boyfriend came in from France this weekend and I was doing some reading this morning while he was washing dishes and he was asking me about my home university.
“I go to American University.”
“Which one?”
“Oh, it’s called THE American University, in Washington, DC.”
“Oh, God…”
Hehehehehehe.
GALWAY ALL DAY
Wow, I have literally been using that for everything I write about Galway since I thought of it.
So.
Hi again! Sorry for the lil bit of time with no update but the STUDY part of STUDY ABROAD was getting in the way of the ABROAD part, which is mostly just ADVENTURES and other interesting things.
Anyway.
This past weekend The Team and I went off to Galway! I’d heard nothing but good things about Galway coming to Ireland and have to say I was not disappointed. It’s a really pretty town and more how I picture Ireland in my mind’s eye than even Dublin - all cobbled streets and cutesy storefronts.
Totally worth the 6 AM wake-up.
We spent our Friday just wandering around the town, seeing the sights, popping into shops and admiring sweaters and Claddagh rings. Fun fact! The Claddagh originates in Galway. Now you all know one more fun thing, hooray for you.
Also there was Griffin’s bakery which was just omgomgomg. 
I should really start a second blog just about food…
That night we were given a guided tour of some of the local pubs in the area by some fellow AU students who are studying at NUI Galway. It was very informative. Trying not to dwell too much on the parties because I know you all are reading this for the HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY and BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS (as well as my witty commentary, let’s be real), one bar we went to, the Townhouse Bar, was out of control. Not in a wild “WHOA I CAN’T STOP DANCING OR SEE OR HEAR” way, but just out of control chill. It looked like a house with all this old furniture, old floral wallpapers, book cases, and vintage posters all over the place. It was dim and cozy and great and I loved it so much.
Carrying on.
Saturday was a big day, as we had our tour to the Cliffs of Moher and around a lot of County Clare. I’ve been to Clare once before, to see Bunratty Castle, and it’s always nice to go because my great-grandfather is from that county, from Ennis. Although we were mostly out in the scenic, foresty, hikeable areas, we drove by a fair amount of road sides for the town, to which I thought “Whoa! Whoa! Joe Tierney! So close! And yet!” I’d really like to do some more research into my family history while I’m here, seeing as how I am going to be in the country for such a long time and, regrettably, have no way of knowing when I’ll be back in the future.
Returning to the story about the cliffs and scenery, the tour was great. We stopped off at a lot of neat sites - Dunguaire Castle,
One of the most photographed in Ireland! Now all the more photographed.
Corcomroe Abbey,
Good thing I don’t hate spookyness. PLUS DE SPOOKYNESS HERE.
The Burren,
just all these terrifically well-preserved or otherwise breathtaking spots about the country. The world is AMAZING. With the Burren, you know, it was all formed by glacial movements, so you can see all these steep walls and sinkholes from where the ice was. Reading the Wikipedia article on it (hell yeah), it’s pretty interesting. It can support arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants all at once. Neat!
On our way up to the cliffs we stopped at Doolin, a little seaside town that mostly only exists during the tourist seasons in the spring and summer. Some places stay open, such as the pub we stopped at, O’Conner’s, but for the most part, store owners close up shop during the winter and stay home. Thank goodness O’Conner’s stays open though, because it’s a great place. Service was really quick - I placed my order, sat down, and within ten minutes had a steaming bowl of beef & Guinness stew in front of me. I really can’t get over how good it was. Ugh, guys I just love the meat and potatoes combination so much.
Seriously, I just need to make another blog - “Things I Have Eaten and Loved Abroad”
After a bit of walking around the docks, we were off to the cliffs! They were utterly breathtaking. The weather, though not ideal, didn’t hurt our view of the cliffs at all, so I can’t complain. If anything, it seemed to suit them more - that dreary stereotypically Irish weather all over such an identifiable landmark was still completely beautiful.
Although there’s a paved trail along the perimeter of the cliffs, it ends after too short of a time. There’s more cliffs blocked off by a small stone barrier covered with signs memorializing those who had died at the cliffs and warning others not to go on, but most of my group - Max, Rachel, Annija, Molly & Meredith, decided to hell with those warnings! And walked along the unofficial dirt path along the cliffs.
On a nice day, I could see this path being just as good as the paved one. And though this was not a terrible day, it was, once again, not great. The path was pure mud and very sticky and slippy. Gradually, members of our group turned back as the hills along the path got higher and the trail got slicker, but at least Max and I made it a ways out.
Cheating death
The views were gorgeous, though. I think my family wants to come out here when they visit, so fingers crossed for a better day and more cliff exploring!
On the way back, we stopped at some “baby cliffs”. A mere 300 feet as opposed to Moher’s 600.
Once again, we decided that it would be a great idea to climb out to small points in windy weather with nothing but rocks and waves beneath us.
Take that, NATURE.
I hope the fact that I am inches from death is distracting you from my roots showing
We got back around 6 or so and had another ridiculous night out in Galway. It ended at Supermac’s, an Irish fast food chain that is CRAZY DELICIOUS. Craving it now, to be honest. An old man came up to us and talked to Meredith about the Yankees and was apparently familiar with my home town and even knew the zip code, which was weird. Then when we were leaving the bouncer (yes, a bouncer at a fast food restaurant), had to slam the door in this zany crowd’s collective face. They were displeased.
I haven’t said anything about the hostel, but it was good! The second night our group got broken up and I was put in a room with five men. Although I was a little freaked out at first, I met two and they were pretty nice. Just thought I’d mention that as it was my ***first hostel experience*** and everything.
Sunday while a few in our group went to the Aran Islands, Meredith and I were feeling pretty rough so we opted to stay in Galway and leave a little early. It was a really weird morning.
Overall, though, a great time. I’d really love to go back, and am really excited that I might get to. Aran Islands for sure next time, promise.
Successfully registered with Garda!
PRO: Not getting deported (right now)
CON: This goddamn card cost me $200 AND IT IS NOT AN IDENTITY CARD.
Friggin A, my non-driver state ID was only like what, $22? Gah. PB&Js and solitude for the rest of the month.
Little Adventures
Here is a real post about things I have been doing rather than little thoughts and notes and annoyances.
15/1: Walking Tour
As the heading suggests, on the fifteenth we took a lil bitty historical walking tour of Dublin. It was very cold out and I was almost late. But I wasn’t actually late and the cold was not the worst thing in the world once we headed out. This little old man, Liam, lead our tour group and it was a lot of the things I saw in high school, admittedly. Government buildings, parks…though he did offer some choice advice about restaurants and hotels I will never be able to afford. Oh, and he also made an American joke when talking about a fancy French restaurant: “Maybe you as Americans would prefer cheeseburgers, but if you want REAL good food, come here.” and I was like “THANKS I WILL STICK TO MY CHEESEBURGERS BECAUSE THEY ARE DELICIOUS AND NOT €50.”
After the tour I went to try to buy some books, so that was kinda meh.
16/1: Black Monday
I wrote about this.
17/1: Classes
Classes are good. I like the structure here a bit more. Whereas at AU we, for the most part, have our classes twice a week and the size of it is not really your choice, here, even if you have a huge lecture class, that’s usually once a week and then the second day your class meets, it’s a smaller group with more professor interaction as well as presentations and the like. (that was a very long sentence! I just realized!) There’s only one class I have, Irish Cultural Studies, where it meets as a large lecture twice a week, but then later on in the semester we’ll start having workshops. Everyone was still pretty burned out after Black Monday so I don’t think we did much after.
18/1: More of the same!
Classes, then chilled at a pub in Rathmines. Discovered Baby Guinness shots (coffee liqueur + Bailey’s). Ohhh myyy Goddd. I died. I. Died. So crazy delicious. All I want out of life.
19/1: Thirsty Thursday AND ALSO A MUSEUM
Thursday turned out to be a pretty full day! I only have one class on Thursday that’s out by 2, so after that a bunch of my NEW FRIENDS (yeah guys, this girl has FRIENDS) and I went to the archaeological museum. It’s such a cool place. It’s pretty small compared to museums like the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, or even the Peabody, but it’s got good stuff. Almost all of it pertains to the history of Ireland, so it’s got vikings, it’s got gold, it’s got medieval stuff…oh, and it’s also got my favorite: bog bodies!
So cute! (Clonyclavan Man)
In all seriousness, though, I do find the bog bodies fascinating, simply because the reasons why they died are so mysterious. Whereas with other mummies, thinking specifically of the traditional Egyptian mummy, the reason for their death is simply that they died and were then intentionally preserved for the next life, the reasons behind the bog bodies’ death seems pretty mysterious. A lot of them died brutally. If you scrolled quickly by this guy in utter disgust, you missed the fact that he’s been pretty mutilated. Via THE WIKIPEDIA:
based on an examination of the evidence found on his body by the Garda Technical Bureau (Irish Police Forensic Division). His skull had been split open by a sharp implement. There is a deep wound on the top of his head, and parts of his brain have been found in this wound. There is also a large laceration across the bridge of his nose leading under his right eye. Both injuries seem to have been caused by the same sharp implement, most likely an axe.
Pretty nasty. Another interesting bit about him is the fact that they found traces of old-old-old-old timey hair gel in his hair. Since the ingredients of it would have had to have been imported, this implies that he was wealthy. In fact, in a lot of the forensic investigations of the bodies, as best as I can tell, the victims have been of some wealth or status based on what the signs said about their diets and also other reasons why people know they would have been wealthy. It’s just interesting to think of all the Iron Age-era intrigue surrounding these deaths - power struggles and all that. As I noted, these dudes were murdered BRUTALLY - decapitation, dismemberment, hanging all sorts of nasty stuff. Not really the way (I personally) would expect some sort of ceremonial killing. Not to mention the corpses were then thrown in BOGS (hence bog bodies and also why they are so well preserved. Something about the chemistry of peat bogs, not my jam, anyway,) So yeah, I’m really into dead things so this country will be fun.
After the museum, we did a little shopping and two of our friends, Jess and Sheynn, showed fellow AU-er Max and myself Londis - a convenience store where you can buy a crispy chicken baguette + potato wedges for €3. Talk. About. Deals. Also it was crazy delicious and I was not even a little sick after so I will be frequenting the Londis, no worries about that.
Many in our group had managed to sign up to go to the Merry Plougboys - a restaurant with traditional Irish music and dancing. Although always in favor of that sort of thing, literally as I was about to sign up for it I received an e-mail saying the trip was full. I wasn’t the only one though, and a bunch of people from our group hung out together and played pong (water pong!). Then we went to a night club and it was the opposite of the last time: it was so fun omg.
And my parents read this blog so I WILL LEAVE IT AT THAT oo intrigue!
20/1: FRIDAY FRIDAY
I WAS SORTA HUNGOVER ON FRIIIIEDAAY. But not in a bad way! Just dizzy! P. good day though, I think. Went to all my classes, ate some food, hung out with some friends. Can’t complain one bit!
Except for the lil hangover.
21/1: Planning etc.
Saturday we planned our trip to Galway! So that was exciting. I’M SO EXCITED! We also had fajitas for dinner because duh obviously. And I did some grocery shopping! I got tons of food for ~€22 including JAFFA CAKES which I think I could have eaten an entire thing of if I wanted to. They’re lil vanilla cakes with orange jelly inside and a chocolate cover. Yes. Let that sink in. Okay, great. After dinner we had a Team Bonding Sesh and then watched Inglorious Basterds because it is great. We are homebodies.
22/1: FOOTBALL/Sunday
Slept in. Did laundry. Watched football. Ate fish n chips.
And now I leave to go register with Garda so I don’t get kicked out of the country/get kicked out of the country for reasons as yet unknown! WE WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE!
Observation: I am American
I am writing in one of the coffee shops on campus and it smells insanely good in here: apparently they bake the pastries on-site.
Last night I watched a football game with a bunch of friends in a pub. It was very eighth-grade dance: All the boys sat close to the TV and all the girls sat farther away. Occasionally we would laugh at each other.
Fun fact: American football is just as dull in Ireland as it is in America.
After we got back from the game I couldn’t sleep so I tried to put on some Hey Arnold to just zone out to. A lot of US shows aren’t available on Netflix here, so I was happy to see that this still was, and posted a lil Facebook status about it. Although one of my girl friends here agreed that it rules that Hey Arnold on instant watch is great, one of our male friend teased us, saying we weren’t in America anymore.
Which is funny because he lead the way to a pub to watch a sport that doesn’t even really exist here. He and all the guys we were with were dead serious about the game: getting worked up emotionally when the Ravens overtook the Pats for like, what, 20 minutes? I’m talking heads in their hands, visibly depressed worked up. For many of the guys of our trip, not watching football was never an option. They would, come hell or high water, find a way to watch football. Football is serious business, always.
And yet my delight at being able to watch (admittedly a children’s) cartoon is silly? I’m the one who needs to let go of my Americanisms?
——
Okay, I started writing that around 10:00 AM today and it’s almost 5 now. Jeez, it’s not even noon back on East Coast United States yet, which is wild. That time zone thing still throws me. No kidding, I’ll go on Facebook at 10 and wonder why no one’s updating: it’s because it’s still 5 AM. Anyway, tangent.
So far in my time here, I haven’t really gotten a lot of crap for being American. We’ve got a French friend in our group who will sometimes tease us a little, but luckily no one has outright had the nasty “Screw you, you’re an American” reaction to my accent. For the most part it’s been largely positive, even. Today in my cinema lecture, however, as the discussion was on violence in film, inevitably the discussion turned to violence in American cinema. I mean, it wasn’t overly bad by any means, it was just the first time since I’ve been here that the US has been the butt of a joke not made by Americans. Specifically, talking about the Austrian film Funny Games that we will be viewing tomorrow (“It’s funny we aren’t watching an American film, actually”) the professor said, regarding the Austrian director’s decision to create an American version “One of the reasons he decided to remake the film was Americans had problems reading the subtitles.” Class laughs, I cringe. In the time that I’ve been here I’ve been acutely aware of the fact that I am an American, with the worst possible idea of others’ perceptions of me as an American. As I noted, for the most part that’s been wrong. A lot of people just want to know how I would get alcohol as a not-21 year old (answer: I DIDN’T, OBVIOUSLY, LET’S MOVE ALONG) and also Why does football go on so long? (answer: No one knows and/or advertising time.)
Just some thoughts.
A Bother:
I don’t think the birds ever go to sleep here. Admittedly, it’s 3 AM, but they’re chirping like it’s five. They’re up like this at all hours of the night. It is really, really throwing me off.
Also, in terms of other small things, the forecast here is for the high 40s, low 50s all week. So much for Dublin being freezing…(hope you all are enjoying your snow, I miss it)
Things I like to do in cities: walk around by myself.
I did this a lot on weekends my freshman year because starting university was just this constant buzz of people and being with tons of people all the time and getting a million instructions and having these tight schedules that you need to take care of and it’s really just nice to be able to just wander around for a few hours and find things that aren’t stops on the guided tours.
Today I went out to Grafton Street to try to find bookstores that were cheaper than the one on campus to get some novels for my modernist fiction class. I’d heard that the side streets are the places you really want to be in that area, so I took a left and then a few more lefts (some rights, as well) and tried to see what I could find.
Here is what I found.
One of the first interesting places I saw was this place called The Living Room. Interestingly, there is a pub of the same name. This place, however, is just a quiet space in the city. Which seems nice.
A second place I found was the George’s Street Arcade. An arcade is a roofed-over shopping center. For all intents and purposes it could’ve been an outdoor market but for the glass ceiling.
It’s a cool little place. There are lots of independent retailers - secondhand books, records and clothes, a costume shop, cafes, a hair salon and of course little knicknack stands, as well.
There was this little secondhand book store where I got my copy of Lady Chatterly’s Lover for €5 that was seriously out of a movie. It was very dark inside with no one but me and the owner - an older man who sat near the window reading the newspaper. The store was packed with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, as well as some smaller ones in the middle. Classical music was playing, but there was also some old rock music being played outside in the record stand, so it was a weird mash-up that wasn’t actually terrible.
I got my book and had a little chat with the guy, talking about censorship and how interesting it is that people are so much more sensitive about sex than violence.
Outside the store I walked into a tent with a bunch of old records, CDs, and posters. The guy working here was a bit friendlier than the bookseller - their nature reflected in their employment? He kept asking me if I needed help and if I wanted to listen to a record he’d put it on for me.
I didn’t want to buy anything because although the €1 price on most of the records was more than reasonable, I haven’t got a record player here and I don’t know how I’d get them home. So I ducked out while his back was turned. Not shady at all.
Walking along the streets near the arcade, it was definitely apparent that this wasn’t really tourists’ Dublin. There was street art everywhere and everyone just looked cooler. As I mentioned earlier, Hollister is still a big deal to (adult) men here, and there was not a polo in sight. I heard an older man saying “I think we’re in a very odd part of Dublin.”
Suits me just fine.
