Clifden

This past weekend 3 of my friends and I decided to up and go to Clifden, Connemara. Clifden is a quaint city in the countryside near the coast. It was really picturesque and fun to walk around. There were fields everywhere, horses, sheep, and cattle as far as the eye could see.  On our first day we took a self guided tour of Clifden and walked to the monument hill to get an amazing panoramic view of the city. That night we got a "magic map to the eighth wonder of the world" by the owner of the Brookside Hostel, Richard. He was a very cheerful and helpful man, couldn't ask for a better innkeeper; he even helped organize a pony trek with the Cleggan Riding Center. We road for about 2 hours. One thing we hadn't thought about is that there are no such things as western saddles in Ireland. So the girls got a crash course in English style riding, including posting and trotting. The horses were all cute and, of course, since they were trail ponies, they were stubborn. My pony, Archie, was a beautiful little guy, but he reminded me of Angel's horse...Angel, stubborn as a mule. We were brought to a beach where the inexperienced riders got to trot and myself, another girl, and one of the leaders got to canter. We went back and forth many times and then finished with a slow walk in the water. :). The ride was worth the euro and the girls loved it! 

Afterwards we had our own adventure trying to find the Clifden Castle. We trekked through horse paddocks and even stopped to say hi to a few mares and their babies. We also got a very loud greeting from a lonely donkey. It was a wet and muddy walk but I loved it. 

The weekend was great, exhausting, but great. We were there just in time for an arts festival and got to see a lot of great art galleries, I wanted to buy all the horse paintings :). There were street performers who you could here playing all the way on top of monument hill. 

I'm still having trouble registering with immigration. I'm actually getting very stressed and vexed by the lack of efficiency in this process. I have never experienced such a run around over a stupid process. The officers here are extremely stubborn and I am getting to the point where I think I will have to get the Embassy involved. This has to be the most disappointing part of Irish society is their administration's lack of communication and efficiency. 

The Aran Islands

This weekend a group of students with the Arcadia program went on a trip to the Aran islands. There is a lot of history tied to them. According to something I've read one of the islands didn't have electricity until the mid-1900s. I didn't get to see much of the island, but that was fine. The group of girls and I took our time bicycling around and climbing old ruins. It's really what I've been wanting to do.

I had my first lab class today. I have to say I feel far more experienced than any other student. RWU has definitely prepared me to work in a lab. Most of the students (technically sophomores) have never had a lab before, in fact they don't take science in school before college so I've been told.  

I've made some other observations about Irish students over the past few days. They hate to sit in the front of the classroom it's like pulling teeth. They actually fill a room from the back to the front. They also seem to try to avoid sitting next to anyone unless they know them already (which Americans are just as guilty of). Also, PDA is huge here, people will make out in the middle of the hallway (or the bar) and not give a damn in the world and no one else seems to care either; it can get a bit graphic. One of my friends told me that her roomie said that when it comes to dating they believe in making out (scoring/snogging as they term it) with many different people and then eventually settling down after they've had their fun.

Today was "clubs day", what they call clubs, we call sports/sport clubs. Tomorrow is "societies day (or socs day)", which we call clubs. Today I signed up for the equestrian team...and yes...the rugby team. The rugby team seems really laid back, with only two practices a week and only up to an hour...so I can't imagine they are extremely serious. But the equestrian team sounds awesome. They try to do weekend excursions often and do treks around Ireland! I can't wait to find out more. I plan on joining a soc or two, but we'll see. 

Overall, things are finally starting to pick up in speed. Oh!, I finally tried an Irish breakfast when I was at the Aran Islands. Don't try it unless you really like meat, or are hungover (neither is/was the case for me). It consists of sausage, ham, fried egg, toast, white pudding, and black pudding (the puddings are like sausage and the black is made of congealed pigs blood). The black pudding was gross to say the least. A "full" Irish breakfast is all that plus a slice of tomato, beans, and scrambled eggs. I've also tried soda bread which is fun to munch on, but very heavy. 

But that's about as much of an update that I've got for you. 

Cheers!

Slainte! (this is a long one)

Slainte, pronounced slawn-cha, means cheers, or to your health. Over the past two weeks I have been able to see what Irish college life is like. The night life is very active on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The students also go home on Fridays so generally there are few classes held on Friday, that or the students just don't go. The Irish love their families very much, the idea of being a close family is extremely important to them. There are very few Irish students who stay on campus over the weekend. Also, most of the students don't come back until some time on Monday. So on Monday they celebrate being back in the city and since Wednesday and Thursday are the last days of the week they'll be in the area they party hard. 

We were warned that if we are ever invited to an Irish party we need to bring our own drinks and if we ever hold a party we just have to pray our apartment doesn't get too trashed, and from what I've heard they do a lot of damage. 

I have been getting a good feel for which bars and pubs I like here and which I don't. So far I like the Crane Bar which is very traditional and farther away from the other bars so there aren't very many college students there, the drinks are cheaper, and there is live traditional Irish music. The other one is The Hole in the Wall (it was hard to find). This bar is nice because, although it is crowded, they are very accepting of Americans whereas other bars have given me the vibe that they just find us loud and annoying (which isn't too far from the truth for some). I've also tried out different clubs and decided which ones are way too sketchy and the ones that are just too crowded. Generally, the Irish go to the same place on certain nights. For example, every Monday they go to the GPO club because there is no cover charge. On Wednesdays they go to the Central Park club because it's free for women. 

I finally had a pint of guinness. The guinness is far less bitter here than in the states. So in my in-expertise I'd say it is better, but I still don't like it. By the end of the pint I was having trouble getting past the after taste. I think I'll just stick to hard cider. 

Also, many people have told me that when you are in another country the best way to explain where you from is "I'm from New York", but here you want to say "I'm from Boston". They love it. One historian told us that the majority of Irish families here have relatives in Boston or have lived there at some point in their lives.  

As for classes and academics (that is what I'm here for right?), they are easy so far. I don't see this being a challenging semester at all, in fact I feel a little removed from my classes right now, I'm not really enthralled. I had my first history class today, Ireland in the 19th century, which is actually seems really interesting, the Irish really have always drawn the short straw. For my chemistry course we were told how the final exam is going to work. They post the old exams on the internet so you can get an idea of what the questions will be like (not a new concept to me). As of right now it seems very cut and paste, all I have to do is memorize my class slides and I have an answer. The history and environmental politics class only have papers. The history class has a mid-term and final paper; at most I'll be writing 10 pages for that, the final paper is due by Dec. 4 leaving the rest of my time free (classes end on November 28). The environmental politics is similar,  I was initially told the paper would only be about 5 pages, but I'm not completely sure. My biochem class will be run more like an American class with multiple tests throughout the semester and lab assignments and tests. My exam will also be another 2 hour exam. 

That's the big update for now. Next week, the American girls and I are going to try doing a potluck dinner :). And next week the clubs will finally be recruiting members and starting! For now I'm just taking it really easy, but I can't wait to be a little busier.

Till Next Time,

Cheers!

Irish Education

Today, I had my second day of classes. My chemistry courses feel like they will be just as challenging as they are at home, no more, no less. I am actually looking forward to my biochemistry course. While waiting for biochem. course this morning I ended up chatting with an older Irish woman. We got onto the subject of education in Ireland. She herself was a non-traditional student being 30 years old. But she said that was because of how high school worked out for her. In America we think we have it tough with our SATs but the Irish have it much worse. Once you hit high school you have to know what you want to do because in the last year of high school you take a test based on 600 points. In order to work in higher paid jobs you have to get at least 550 points. If you want to do medicine you have to get 600 exactly. She was explaining to me that because of this system students are either very involved in extracurricular activities and dont' care about school or only care about school and don't have time for anything else. Also once you go to college (which Irish students don't have to pay tuition for, they just pay a registration fee of $1,000 every year) you have to follow the course schedule for whatever discipline your score corresponds to. So if you get around 400points you automatically go into the arts. If you place higher into the 500s you study subjects that will lead to a better paying career. It's really different and it sounds very stressful. She said that many times students will graduate with one degree and then a few years go back for another because they are not happy with what they ended up with. 

Gaill-City of Strangers

This past weekend I had an opportunity to see an hour presentation on the history of Galway and to go on a walking tour of the city center (or medieval city as the historian called it).  The historian, Peadard O'Dowd is a local historian who has written many books about Galway and his presentation was interesting. While he gave us the tour of the city centre he also explained many facets of its history. Gaillimh is derived from the irish word gaill which means strangers. This city has always been known as the city of strangers because of the many tribes that have come and gone and all of the invasions that have occurred here. I feel that even all of the students moving into the university attributes to the name. We are from all over, the university generally has an average of 1500 international students attend every year. 

Also, as you walk around Galway you'll notice there are a lot of swans and I mean a lot. Biologically I don't know why (maybe my bio friends would know ;) ), but according to Irish lore, swans are a reincarnation of the ancient celts. There is also a legend about an Irish family that had been turned into swans, I need to research that. The Irish cherish their swans dearly, whenever I walk to the promenade by the bay you can see so many people bringing bread to feed to the swans (I don't think they realize that bread is bad for ducks), but it's the thought that matters. The swans will let you get very close before they start to ruffle their feathers. It was really cute to see one standing next to a little boy whom it towered over. If you were to ever hurt a swan they'd through you in the bay (so an Irish woman told me). 

My Irish roommates have moved in, they are all girls, and they seem really friendly. One girl made me a little nervous when her initial reaction to my introduction was "oh, you're american". But as that days have gone by she and I have been chatting in the living room and I have been making an effort to really show who I am and be myself. Many of the other American students have told me that when meeting the Irish, the Irish have said "why can't you guys be yourselves?". It's difficult to get an understanding of what they think of us. Last night a guy stopped my friend and I to ask us to come to a house party. Then he followed the invitation with "are all americans cheesy?" It was difficult getting him to explain his meaning, but then he simply stated "are you all like the people on the Hills?" I have never watched this reality show before, and it's sad to say, that's how they measure americans. I have found that many of the Irish base who we are upon the reality shows on TV. The Irish are known for watching a lot of TV and they show a lot of American reality shows. It bothers me that our shows are such a poor reflection of so many Americans and because they are so popular they will continue to be a poor reflection, thus we're only shooting ourselves in the foot. The Irish guy also asked if all American girls were extremely horny, which was a rather awkward question (he was rather drunk while talking to us anyway). American women have gotten quite a reputation here in Ireland. The only thing I can surmise is that because so many girls are attracted to accents maybe they do hook up with a lot of Irish guys. I only hope it doesn't become an issue I have to wrestle with often. 

It has been cloudy and showering from time to time. My roommates say it will be like this until April now. We'll see if that ends up being true. 

Galway Center

So, I wanted to correct myself from my first post. When talking about the Irish language, if you are speaking in English, you refer to it as "Irish" not "Gaelic" you only call it Gaelic when you are speaking in Irish. Confusing? From what I understand the locals do not like it being called Gaelic except when being used in the language itself. 

Today we went through sooo many orientation sessions. I think our orientation at RWU was a little easier to deal with. It's strange to feel like a freshman again. I'm learning around the campus little by little. I'll miss the free printing @ RWU (it's .08 euro per page here, that's about 16 cent or a little less). 

Classes start Monday. The enrolling process (what we call registering) is very different here. Students don't pick their classes until the first day of classes. We decide what classes we want after attending it and deciding if we liked it. 

Other than that things are going well. I started to walk around Galway city center and it is very beautiful. And then a group of us hung out at the college bar and sang karaoke (I know shocking, I was actually coerced into karaoke, and yes...it was after having a pint of hard cider lol).  

Till I write again,

Cheers

Gaillimh

I have finally arrived in Galway (or Gaillimh in Irish, pronounced gallia), one of the prettiest parts of Ireland and also the wettest. Since Galway is on the Atlantic it gets a lot of rain, very sporadically I might add. Today we took a tour of the campus and at least three times we were caught in a downpour when only minutes before the sun was shining. Also, Ireland is as green as the pictures show, I'm thinking b/c of said rain. It's really beautiful. The drive from Dublin to Galway was nice because we got to see the middle of Ireland too. Lots of cows, sheep, and horses. :) I am glad to be out of Dublin. It is definitely a 2-3 day trip, not much more. On our last night in Dublin we saw a play titled "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde, it was great; rather witty. Then a group of girls, three guys, the Aussie, Dan, and two canadians went out to a bar called Turkshead. After having some pints of cider(for me that is) we went to a club and got in for free because it was our last night in Dublin! We ended up closing the club and got back to the hostel around 3:30am! It was a great time. By the way, I have had a pint of beer, but I just can't drink it. The alcohol content in all the drinks is stronger here not to mention the volume is larger. I do like cider though, I tried an Irish cider (no idea how to spell or pronounce it) but it was great. I have made friends with a group of 4 girls who seem really down to earth and love life. I've befriended a few guys, but one is a bit of a cynic. The other guys are just there for the booze. 

As for the culture, I still find the culture to be very friendly and welcoming, except some angry woman at the grocery store. The accent hasn't been too bad, sometimes I have to ask for them to repeat themselves, sometimes I just smile and nod, lol. I watched a game of gaelic football a couple of days ago; it's like soccer, basketball, and rugby combined. It's the national sport, but I don't find it very exciting. 

Side notes: handle broke on luggage, we'll see how long it lasts lol. 

That's about it for now I guess. Until next time, take care! Sorry for such a long entry, I'll try t make the rest shorter.