Barcelona

So I am currently spending my last night in Barcelona, I will be back in Ireland around noon tomorrow. I am completely beat. I have walked around this city so much that I dont even know how many miles I could have possibly wandered around. My friend Brian, from RWU, and I got here at noon on Friday. It took us close to 30 minutes to find our hostel, the Centric Point Hostel, which is the nicest hostel Ive stayed in, plus we get free internet, but they do charge you for other stuff that you need, i.e. a top sheet/blanket and towels. Friday we just spent the time walking around La Rambla and the harbor. La Rambla is one of the main streets that every tourist goes to. It is filled with little stands selling souveniers and also pet stands believe it or not. The pet stands sell everything such as, parakeets, parrots, baby water turtles, tortoises, pigeons, rabbits, chincillas, hamsters, all sorts of other birds, ferrets, and guinea pigs. I also found that if you go to a souvenier shop and ask a price of something and then decide not to get it they will go down as far as possible in price to make you buy it (I did not find any previous information if bartering was appropriate so I didnt try). We also tried two different types of spanish foods: tapas and paella. Tapas are small portions of food that you share (although we didnt know this till after we ate it) so generally you are supposed to buy a whole bunch, but we only bought ourselves two each. Paella is a rice dish, generally consisting of rice, veggies, and fish/meat. It can get rather pricey and in some restaurants the dishes are large enough for several people. I have to say the small take out portion I got was great.

On the second day we spent finding all of the Guadi architecture. It was absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend the Sagrada Familia. It has to be the most unique church I have ever seen. There was also park designed by Guadi which was really beautiful and overlooked the city giving you the best view. We also checked out a few markets, especially this one famous one because the building has an interestingly colorful roof that has a rippled shape to it. Since Brian is an architecture student you can believe we check out a lot of buildings. We also checked out the Olympic stadium to find some sort of huge festival for children being held. I have to say compared to the Birds Nest, this stadium looks extremely simple and kind of boring.

Today, we went to the Museu de Picasso. It was a quaint art museum but it showed all of Picasso's work that not many people are familiar with. Picasso was truly an amazing artist throughout his life. His portraits and drawings pre-cubism are phenomenal. After Brian left today, I spent some more time wandering around, but couldn't do much more than I had already.

Also, although Barcelona is in Spain the locals speak Catallan which has many differences from Spanish. Most of the menus were written in Spanish and Catallan. It even turns out though that some of the locals can barely understand spanish it is that different. The language barrier was a little difficult but using some vocab helped a bit.

Thanks to hostel prices and bus tickets I quickly found myself running short on the 200 euro I brought with me. Although Spain might be slightly cheaper than Ireland it can still get expensive.

Overall, Barcelona was a great place to visit. There is so much to visit, there is no way you can see the whole city in 3 days. I think a week would be good, but it would be expensive. I was hoping to see some of the areas that were in Woody Allens newest movie, Vicky Christina Barcelona, but I had no such luck. I think the area he filmed in is on the outskirts of Barcelona city or are in an area called Poble Espanol but I wasnt able to make it out there.

The Irish Love Their TV

So, since I don't have a computer to constantly distract me I've been finding myself with a lot of time on my hands, too much I think. I'm not really used to it, but maybe it's for the better. While watching TV (lots of it) I've realized a few things. 1) They really really like Friends and Scrubs, by time I leave I think I will have seen every episode I've ever missed. Sometimes you can see the same episode 2-3 times a day. 2) Commercials are extremely sexual. 3) Sex is not edited from the shows. 4) Some of the commercials are extremely graphic, in a violent way. There is a speeding and a drunk driving commercial that could make your stomach turn; namely this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5-25qO2avQ :be advised it's really shocking. I can't imbed it into my blog because it isn't a file, so just copy and paste and it should work.

Other than that, nothing else is new. I will let you all know how Barcelona and flying Ryanair goes.

Cheers!

Faery Forts

So, I would consider it ironic that the day after I wrote my last blog my computer semi-crashed. I am not sure if it really has or if my harddrive just got a little jostled but...it doesn't look good. So now I am without a computer except the ones at school. You don't realize how reliant you are on them until they go down.

For my b-day I went for a bus tour ride to the Cliffs of Moher (I will try to find a way to post pictures soon). They were breath taking and it was great day because the sun was out and it was warm! The girls who came with me were willing to be quite adventurous which made it even better. We tried to hike to a tower in the distance but we ran out of time, we were probably 3/4 of the way there. We also took some pretty ballsy pictures, which may have been stupidly dangerous but you gotta live right? They weren't that bad, let's just say I was laying down when I looked over the edge ;). The bus tour also included driving through the Burren which is a very barren landscape composed of layers of shale and limestone it looks like a lunar surface (not as much as Moon Hill in Yangshou). We also saw some very old tombs and even walked around a faery fort. Faery forts are earthen memorials in a circle that are said to be where the spirits of the ancient celts reside. We walked all around the perimeter hoping that it would bring some luck to us. It was amazing to see how the trees grew perfectly around the perimeter of the raise circle and all that was in the middle was a clump of bush and bright green grass. I saw a few castles and the High Cross Church (where some of the original celctic crosses are still preserved).

Other than that life is the same. I've gotten one mid term paper down and have another to go. Then I only have two final papers. That's it. I'm hoping my chemistry exams are at the beginning of the exam period. It turns out our reading period for the exams is a week long so I might see where my funds are and travel to Cork and check it out. Other than that I just have Barcelona and Belgium coming up! :D

Hope all is well with the rest of you.
Cheers!

Garda

In Ireland the police force is known as the Garda or Gardia (plural). To study in Ireland you must register with the Garda within a month or so, but there are many inconsistencies with the process. For example, some students were missing documentation but were still registered, while others were not made to pay the 150 euro fee. This morning I made my 3rd attempt to register after two unsuccessful trips to the immigration office. I have finally been officially registered which really takes a huge stress off my shoulders. I am just paranoid that I will lose my registration card, if you lose it you have to pay the fee all over again, which is ridiculous for a replacement card. There are still other students trying to register. One girl is going tomorrow morning for her 4th try. Depending on which officer you get varies the difficulty of registration. Today, I got a very pleasant officer. 

Today my friend, Paddy, was thrown a surprised birthday party by his roomies, so it seems that the gap between Irish and American is starting to close a little bit. One part of the issue is it's getting financially difficult for most, if not all, the American students and so partying and going out is just starting to become a once a week or every other week occasion, whereas for the Irish students it's every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and that is the prime time to meet the Irish. I have met more students in my lab and in the dance club I joined yesterday. I hope to get to know them much better. 

Maybe it's because I'm all registered now, but I feel like things are starting to look up. :)

Cheers!

Reflections so far

So, I've been here for over a month already. And what have I got to say so far? I've been trying to think of a way to write things that have been running through my brain this past week. Although I am in denial, I think I may be experiencing some negative culture shock, the anger and dissatisfaction with another society. The Irish culture isn't very different from our own, but it's like seeing the other side of America's own prejudices and stereotypes. 

I get a lot of mixed signals from students and I find myself closing up and having trouble being outgoing. I am closer to Americans than the Irish which, although I love my friends, I wish I knew more Irish students that's why I'm here.  I feel like a lot of the women are nice here, but there is still a barrier, but that could just be because of the nature of women to be exclusive (admit it, we can be). I feel like the men here definitely like to feel in control and the more powerful figure of the sexes. I've experienced this a lot in the bars when men are flirting with you they automatically have to touch your back or your waist to show their masculinity which I find to be annoying. I just wish I could have guy friends to just hang out with.

I have also been told by a few Irish men that I need to "loosen up" because I look "sour" sometimes when we are in pubs. Even though I know I should come out of my shell I'm not going to throw all caution to the wind in a pub just so people won't think I'm sour. I have also been confused by this because one of my friends was told to "calm down" once when she was drunk. So I am not sure if we should loosen up or calm down. The Irish have a stereotype of Americans as being "loud and dumb" according to a party I was invited to for international students. I agree with the loud part though, you can generally pick out the American students in a bar. To some extent there are some Americans I am embarrassed to be associated with here and it's disappointing. 

So I feel like I'm on the defense. Sometimes I actually feel nervous to admit that I come from America. One of my friends told a guy she was from Canada, just to see, and he replied "well, that's hell of a lot better than being from the US". I'm just starting to feel confused as to whether we are truly welcome here or if even Ireland is losing respect for us because of our political issues. I feel that they automatically blame any American for what is going on instead of seeing us as individuals. I've almost wanted to retort about their own civil conflicts that just finally came to an end.  I don't want to insult people, but they don't realize they are insulting me. 

But maybe I'm just feeling this negative because I've been having so many issues getting everything settled here. I feel like I can't quite enjoy myself because I always have something hovering over me. I don't know if I'll really get close to any Irish students here. It's difficult to get to know anyone in class, because you come in, sit down, take notes, and leave. And although I have joined clubs nothing has really started and so I'm still not meeting anyone for more than a "where are you from? oh really? that's cool" conversations. 

On a brighter note, I have bought plane tickets to Barcelona and Belgium (Brussels). I'll be going to Spain for a long weekend with a friend of mine from RWU who is studying in Florence. Then I will be going with one of the girls here to Belgium in November. And then Celeste told me that she is coming here for a week just in time for the end of my classes!