Farewell with a Bang

Today was a very fun and busy day. It's a Monday, and there is a little less than two weeks until my semester is done and I'm boarding the plane back to America--hard to believe how quickly these three months have flown by! Things are slowly winding down here on campus, and I'm starting to have to prepare for my departure.

Tonight, Arcadia organized a farewell party, where me and the rest of the Arcadia program students got together one last time. The party started at 7pm in Dublin, but I decided to head into Dublin several hours early. After going to my class at 11pm, I hung around for a bit and then left for Dublin aboard the 1:30pm train, arriving at Connolly Station at about 2:20pm. From there, I had a bite for lunch and then headed toward the movie theater, stopping to admire some of the shops along the way. I noticed that Dublin had fully decked itself out for Christmas--there were lights and decorations all along the main shopping streets, and many of the stores themselves had things like painted snowflakes on their windows and whatnot. Heck, some areas even had music playing.

A huge Christmas Tree right next to the Spire. You can tell Dublin really gets into the spirit of Christmas.

So I arrived at the movie theater and watched a matinee showing of Rise of the Guardians--which I only saw because it looked fun and I had a friend who promised me it was worth going to, even though it was geared toward children. And it WAS fun. The animation was spectacular (magical, even. I wish I'd watched it in 3D) and the story and idea behind it was neat. Anyways, so that was an enjoyable way to pass the time. By the time I'd gotten out it was dark outside, but that wasn't a surprise since it feels like these days the sun is setting by the time I wake up in the morning.

I started to make my way towards the Arlington Hotel, where the Arcadia party was being held. Along the way I attempted to go to a comic book store that I'd finally located in the city, but it closed about 10 minutes before I got there! (grr...). Alas, I had to continue along my way. I found the Arlington Hotel, although it took me awhile to locate it in the dark. I found it ironic that it was named the Arlington Hotel--like I was back home.

The Arcadia party eventually got into full swing, and it was fantastic. The Hotel actually served us a good three-course meal. My main dish was Bangers & Mash (or herb pork sausage and mashed potatoes with gravey, super yum!) and for dessert I had cheesecake. It was great. While we ate, we had live music perform. It was fun listening to these three guys do some classical Irish tunes, as well as some more modern popular songs. After the live music and our plates had been cleared, a troupe came up on stage and did some Irish Dancing. I think that that, by far, was the coolest. The dancing just looked like so much fun (not to mention exhausting to do! I think my feet would fall off if I tried that!).

After it was all done, Arcadia hired us a taxi to take us back to Maynooth. I said my last farewells to the Arcadia staff, since I wouldn't be seeing them again before I left. I was kinda sad to say goodbye to them--Arcadia has done a fantastic job of being with us during this semester-long trip, not to mention providing the field trips to places like Belfast and the Giant's Causeway.

I got back at like 11pm, and now I'm exhausted. I'm going to collapse, and in the morning I have to start working on my final essays!

Irish Word of the Day: dance -- damhsa.
There was some fun dancing and music tonight. -- Bhí roinnt damhsa spraoi agus anocht ceoil.

A Sojurn into Dublin

So today was the start of a weekend in which I have nothing planned and everyone whom I would normally talk to is gone. So, with me here all by myself, I decided it was time for me to plan out my own adventures. I started by planning out a trip into Dublin today--the SOUTH side of Dublin. Dublin is divided by the Livvy River, and there's a train station on either side. Normally I get off at Connolly Station, on the north side of the river. From Connolly Station it's an easy walk to the Spire, which is at the heart of a major shopping district that has pretty much any kind of shop you can think of (except a comic book shop! Grr...I haven't found one yet!). Anyways, instead of going into Connolly today I got off at Pearse Station, on the southern side of the river.

I started out my journey, however, with a rather neat surprise in Maynooth. I set off on my trek to the train station at about 10:20am--I was running late, of course, and so of course I miss the train by about 5 minutes (grr!). I had 45 minutes to kill until the next train, so I wandered around. I went by the river and noticed that there was a large flock of birds hanging around. I soon discovered that a mother and her child were throwing bread into the river, which was what was attracting all the birds...and ducks, and swans! It was a huge congregation of birds! I got my camera out and took some nice photos of the beautiful (but feisty  swans and the very cute ducks! They didn't seem people-shy at all.

One of the swans that came up for the feast. They're so beautiful, but be careful, they bite!

So many ducks! They were so CUTE! I just wanted to hug this one, which came right up to me like he was totally cool with it.

After I had my fun with the ducks I got on the train and arrived at Pearse Station at approximately 12:30pm. From there, I immediately headed right across the street to Trinity College, a very famous college in Dublin that also happens to be the oldest college in Ireland. It was founded in the 14th century. Talk about history! Trinity College has several libraries and even its own museum. I walked around the college for a bit, totally blending in with the other college students that were heading to and from their classes. Then I went toward my primary destination--the Old Library, which housed the Book of Kells. This book is one of the oldest and most-well preserved books from the Middle Ages in Ireland. It contains the Four Gospels. I went on a tour of the Old Library and the Book of Kells was one of the first things I saw, in its special high-preservation room. It was so cool being able to read an actual page of the book. The book was written in Latin, and it was a bit hard to read because it was (a) faded and (b) written in a very elegant script. BUT I could pick out a few snippets here and there. I could actually translate some of the Latin!

After the Book of Kells the tour took me into the Long Room, which is, well...a very long corridor-like room FULL of really, really old books. It was a library, like something straight out of a Gothic novel (remember Disney's Beauty and the Beast and the library that the Beast showed Belle? Yeah, it was totally exactly like that). Most of the books were, unfortunately, roped off, but they did have several display cases full of old book for you to read. It was cool because I could actually read the page of a book written in, like, 1875 or something. But oh, what I would have given to spend a whole day in that library, picking out some of the books off the shelves! It was such a shame that we weren't allowed to take photos of any of it.

Once I was finished at Trinity College I grabbed lunch, and then headed off to the Natural History Museum of Ireland, which was just around the corner from the college.

The entrance to the Natural History Museum of Ireland, set with a nice rotunda.

The museum was pretty neat. I walked around and saw lots of old tools and stuff, but they also had a huge "treasury" room FULL of gold. Gold torcs, gold crosses, gold brooches...you name it. It was a very glittery room. The museum was laid out chronologically, so you started at like 5000 B.C. and then gradually progressed, through the Vikings and then Medieval Ireland and so on. Oh, and then they did have one side room dedicated to Irish Bogs--apparently, the bogs of Ireland are pretty famous. They're unique and rare, and are full of archaeological finds. Perhaps the coolest (and most disgusting!) thing was that they've found thousand-plus-year-old bodies in the bog. The nature of the bog acted to carefully preserve the bodies with their skin and hair intact (although most of their bones and organs had eroded away). They actually had a few of the bodies on display. It was so freaky! I remember thinking that one guy's upper torso kinda looked like a shirt you could wear, only it had hands attached to it (*gulp*). But it was kinda neat because you could actually see the guy's hair and face and whatnot.

After the Museum it was, unfortunately, starting to get late. I could not stay in Dublin for as long as I wanted, because it gets dark so early! Before I left, however, I did drop by the National Library of Ireland, because it was literally right next to the Museum. I wasn't able to explore the whole library, but I did see a nice exhibit that talked about famous Irish poets, with a feature on William Butler Yeats. I love Yeats! He is by far one of my favorite poets.

I managed to make it to the train station and hop on a train around 4pm. By the time I got off the train just before 5pm, it was completely dark outside. I felt like I had a lot of fun getting to know more of the history of Ireland today, and exploring the south side of the river. Some other time this weekend, however, I plan to head into Dublin again and have fun on the north side!

Irish Word of the Day: book -- leabhar
I saw lots of very old books. -- Chonaic mé go leor de na leabhair an-sean.

Onward to Tara and Newgrange!

Today I had another fantastic day on my second field trip of the weekend. This time, I went with my Irish Studies class. The destinations were the Hill of Tara, Mellifont Abbey and Newgrange. The field trip was actually required if you were in the Intro to Ancient Celts class (which I was), but it didn't matter to me because I would have happily gone along anyway. Considering how fickle the weather is in Ireland, we were very fortunate that the weather was gorgeous, partly cloudy and sunny (although it was very cold, in the lower 40s).

The gorgeous gently sloping hills of Tara are untouched by civilization and rife with history.

We started off promptly at 9am, arriving at the Hill of Tara just before 10am. Tara is a series of rolling hills that are very sacred to Ireland from a historical, archaeological, mythological and spiritual standpoint. In ancient Ireland, the King of Tara was said to be the most powerful king in the land. Tara was also where most of the important religious ceremonies were performed, including animal sacrifice and burial rites. Tara was also featured most prominently mythological stories, and was said to be a place of great power where the ancient Celts could commune with their gods. Geographically, part of the reason Tara is so gorgeous is because of the view. It is only a few hundred feet above sea level, but it's position allows you to stand on the tallest hill and see (on a clear day) far across the land of Ireland in any direction.

Just look at that view!

After Tara we went to two brief stops at the old and new (well, new relatively speaking...) Mellifont Abbey. The older abbey had been converted primarily into a graveyard. However, surrounded by all the dead people are two very ornate Celtic Crosses. These crosses, carved out of stone, have symbols and scenes from the Bible etched all over them. It was very spectacular to stand in front of the 1,000+ year old cross and still see the faded etchings of the scenes that the ancient artists wanted to depict.




After viewing the crosses we then hopped back on the bus for just about 10 minutes before stopping again to move to the much-more sophisticated Mellifont Abbey, which is a well-preserved ruin. You could actually see the whole floor plan of the abbey from the low cliff that we stood upon. I would also like to note that it was just a little bit warmer in this location, which was nice.

Finally, we got back on the bus and headed toward the place I had been truly looking forward to the most--Newgrange. It is properly called Bru na Boine (that's brew-nah-boyne) in Irish. Let me tell you a little something about Newgrange: it is the location of the oldest historical ruins in Europe. The area around Newgrange has many different interesting points of note, but the most noticeable thing (the thing you can see for miles as you approach) is the burial mound. A huge, circular mound embedded into the earth. The mound alone covers a whole acre and was built with over 100 million tons of material (according to the tour guide). The mound is also over 5,000 years old. It's older than the Egyptian pyramids. It is older than Stonehenge by at least a millennium. The mound was used for more than just burial--apparently it was a popular place for elders to meet and commune, perform religious services, and possibly even track the movement of the sun and moon.

Our approach to the Newgrange burial mound -- a large mound that you can see for miles coming up.

The entrance to Newgrange was designed with a unique and special "sun roof" -- a window above the front door. The window is carefully placed so that, during the winter solstice (Dec. 18 - 24), when the sun rises the light will pierce through the sun window all the way deep into the center of the mound, lighting it up for approximately 20 minutes each morning. Our tour guide took us inside the mound itself (unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside). The front door led us into a very narrow passage with giant slab rocks on either side of us. The passage gently rises up approximately 2 meters as you walk (so the floor becomes level with the sun roof). The inside of the chamber is shaped like a cross and once contained the remains of some very wealthy and influential Celts from a long, long time ago. Once the rest of the group and I were safely enclosed at the center of the mound, the tour guide turned off the electric lighting. We were plunged into absolute, complete darkness (it was a bit unnerving, to have your eyes wide open but not be able to see your own hand). Then, the tour guide turned on a special light that mimicked the effect of the sun entering the chamber during the winter solstice. It was a beautiful light. It may have been artificial but...it was a magical moment.

The entrance to Newgrange, guarded by giant kerb stones etched with Neolithic art.

After we left the burial chamber that was it, tour over. We boarded back onto the bus and headed back home. It was a very cold day, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Saying that Ireland is beautiful just doesn't do it justice. I don't think I can even put into words just how simply gorgeous these historic places in Ireland are...the rich green hills, the quaint cottages and landscape dotted with centuries-old ruins...I keep taking all these pictures in hopes to capture some of the beauty, but sometimes I feel like a picture just pales in comparison.

Irish Word of the Day: winter -- gheimhridh
Winter is coming. -- Geimhridh ag teacht.

The Giant's Causeway - Belfast Trip

ALL RIGHT. So I just got back from the whirlwind adventure that was my weekend trip to Belfast. Friday and Sunday were mostly about getting there--we boarded up on a big coach bus from Maynooth, picked up fellow Arcadia students from other universities around Dublin (Trinity College and University College of Dublin) and then went on the two-hour drive up to Belfast, enjoying the pretty Irish countryside all the while. Sunday was pretty much that, but in reverse. SATURDAY, however, was SO BUSY that I seriously don't think I can easily fit it all into one post. SO I think I'm going to divide it into the morning and the evening. This post is going to be about my morning events--namely, The Giant's Causeway

Saturday Morning - The Giant's Causeway

After eating a lackluster breakfast at the hotel, me and the other 80 or so Arcadia students boarded the buses and went on an hour-and-a-half long drive to The Giant's Causeway, which is right at the coast of Northern Ireland (facing the North Atlantic Sea). First of all, the countryside is gorgeous up there--lots of green, rolling hills...steep cliffs...the sound of surf in the background. Very nice.

The shores of Ireland's Northern Coast, at the Giant's Causeway

A tour guide took us through the Giant's Causeway, which is an amazing natural formation that many say rivals Arizona's Grand Canyon. The major fascination is the wonderful rock formations. The main part of the Causeway is broken up into hundreds and hundreds of tiny column-like hexagonal pillars that are all stacked together like sticks. Looking at it, it's hard to believe that it's a natural formation. There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding the Causeway--most involving the giant, Finn McCool, who gave the Causeway it's name. The legends say that the Causeway was once Finn's home, and you can see traces of his presence everywhere--Finn's giant boot lies discarded on the beach, his pet camel slumbers beneath the cliffs, and you can see the rise of his chimney in the distance (if there' smoke coming out of it, that means the giant is in!).

Finn's Camel sleeps at the bottom of the cliff after a hard day's work.

Finn's boot lies discarded on the shore.

After the tour was over the guide set us loose among the many pillars of the Causeway, which were both perfect and dangerous stepping stones! Lots of people tried to climb them to see how close to the shore they could get (which wasn't a great thing to try, since the waves were ferocious pounding against the rocks).

The pillar formations of the Giant's Causeway

When we had explored the Giant's Causeway thoroughly enough, we hopped back on the bus and headed out--but we didn't go far! After just about a 10 minute drive we stopped again, at Dunluce Castle.

Later Saturday Morning - Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle is an ancient medieval castle that was built in the 13th century and remained in use until about the 16th century. The ruins are now all that remain. o.o Still, the ruins are surprisingly well-intact and you can make out much of the layout of the castle. Dunluce is still a part of the Giant's Causeway area and was the center of what was once a thriving village. Now, it must suffer the indignity of being overrun by Arcadia students.

Bridge to the Dunluce Castle's Inner Ward

Inside Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle was a beautiful historic sight. Unfortunately, we only got to stay for about 20 minutes. The ruins were established enough, though, that I could see how the layout of the castle once was and I could just picture the ancient kings and lords and all their servants and peasants living and working in it. And it's location on the northern cliffs was prime real estate. Today it would cost thousands for that sort of view!

After Dunluce Castle we loaded back onto the bus and headed back into Belfast, where the second part of my day took place...

First Irish Word of the Day: Beautiful - álainn
I saw some beautiful sights. - Chonaic mé roinnt sights álainn.

Once More Into the Breach!

Today was a fun outing into Dublin. I still think it's so cool how I can just set out from my apartment, walking, go all the way across Maynooth to the train station, take the train and wind up in the middle of Dublin. Then from there, I'm so urbanite that I no longer need a map (well, I memorized my route ahead of time). Using the trusty Spire as my landmark, I found Cineworld, the Dublin movie theater (one of them, anyways, and most likely the biggest). The theater was huge! It was four stories tall and had things like a cafe  and game room and around 17 screens. I showed up way early--the movie I went to see, Untouchable, was actually an hour later than I thought, so I suddenly had two hours to kill. So, to waste time I decided to explore the area. I didn't have any real direction in mind, just picked a street that looked interesting and decided to see what was down there. I never strayed too far from the movie theater. I went into Penny's, a huge Macy's-like department store. I went to lunch at this cool retro diner and had a chocolate shake and chicken burger (yum!). Then, just down the street from the Cineworld, I found my haven--the Chapter Bookstore, a huge Barnes-and-Nobles-like bookstore with two stories full of books. The bottom floor had new books and the top floor had used ones. I must've stayed in the bookstore for a half hour at least. They had all the books I could possibly look for. I definitely know where to look, now, if I ever want to buy an actual, physical book instead of an electronic one.

So finally I went to the movie itself, which was great. It was a real feel-good comedy, not like most of the movies you see these days. It was one of those based-on-a-true-story type deals that was really just about two characters, but I really liked it. I was smiling the whole time, which is always great. Afterwards, I pretty much went straight home, making the long trek back to the train and then walking across Maynooth. The whole day was just so neat.

When I got back, I totally made myself some pasta. It was all microwaveable, but I had to add ingredients and mix and stuff so I consider that cooking. Also, when I got back we discovered a leak in our boiler room, but the leak actually came from the apartment two floors above us and we (Kate and I) met one of the guys who lived there and chatted for a bit, so that was nice.

Irish Word of the Day: movie -- scannán
I went to the movies. -- Chuaigh mé go dtí an scannáin.

It's Rainin--Nope, it's Sunny out.

I thought I was used to crazy weather. In Texas, the temperature can be completely different from one day to the next. It could easily be 85 F, sunny and clear skies on Monday and 50 F, cloudy and rainy the next day. The reason why it never snows is because the temperature changes so fast that the world doesn't have time to get cold enough for the snow to actually stick and stay.

Ireland is like Texas on steroids. I feel like the weather here is in a hurry to get somewhere, but I'm not sure where that is. Today, when I woke up it was partly cloudy and altogether rather pleasant out. I didn't bring an umbrella. By noon I noticed that some clouds had started to take over, but still altogether OK. When I get back to my apartment, I'm just getting comfortable when all of the sudden whoosh! I look outside my window and it is pouring out. Like the clouds just decided to vomit all their rain on us in one big spew. I stare at the torrential downpour and it lasts for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Then it stops. It's cloudy again. A few hours later there are patches of sunlight out.

And this is a typical day in Ireland, ha. I've actually gotten in the habit of keeping a small umbrella in my purse because there's just no guarantee it won't spontaneously rain. The ground always seems to be at least a little muddy. But while Ireland does have crazy weather, I will say that, unlike Texas, the temperature stays relatively the same. It's been in the 50s pretty much every day since I got here, occasionally climbing up into the 60s or dropping to the 40s at night. It feels kinda strange, how the weather can be so ADHD but the temperature is persistent, constant, and assured. I like the temperature. It's cold enough that you just have to wear a light jacket but it's not too big of a deal to take the jacket off. Really, you mostly need to wear a jacket for the rain.

So that's my observation for the day. Today was a day of downs and ups. It started with a near panic-attack. I've been having issues figuring out this one class, PS202: Perception & Memory. To make a long story short, upon entering the class everyone assumed that everyone had already been told what was going on, except I hadn't. There was a handbook passed out to all the non-international students, but I never got one. Because of that, I discovered today that I missed a lab session for the class. It was so annoying! I feel like I'm having to figure out what's going on in that class by second-hand information--I only found out that there was a lab at all by talking to another student in the class. The teacher never mentioned anything. I'm not even sure who the teacher is for that class--we get a new speaker every few sessions. The actual classwork is fine (in fact, some of it is review for me) but now I'm having to frantically email teachers to figure out how to make up this lab session I missed. grr!

That was my down point. My up point was when I got a free lunch at a nice restaurant, courtesy of the Arcadia program. They mostly wanted to check up on us, see how we were doing. It was nice. And I finally went to the store and got some more long-sleeved clothes, including one that I thought was quite fashionable!

It's the weekend now, and it's one of my rare relaxing weekends. I have plans to head into Dublin one day, but other than that I'm mostly chilling. Cheers.

Irish Word of the Day: Weather -- aimsir
The weather was crazy today! -- Bhí an aimsir dÚsachtach inniu!

The Home-Stay Weekend

Dia duit! So I've just returned from Gorey, Ireland in the county of Wexford, where I spent a weekend with a "homestay" family. The weekend was all organized by Arcadia, my study-abroad program. So Friday I hopped on a bus along with the rest of the Arcadia girls and went on the 1 1/2 hour drive down to Gorey. There, I met Patricia and her two daughters--Holly and Maelle. Holly is an adorable 4-year-old and Maelle is a very energetic and sociable 12-year-old. They live in a very cozy house in a neighborhood full of children that all know each other; it was pretty common for children to randomly come in to Patricia's home, and for Maelle to go over to neighboring houses to visit her friends.

Holly, age 4.

Patricia was very friendly and chatty. I learned that both her children attend an Irish school (where they speak Irish instead of English), which I thought was awesome. Apparently it's pretty common to have schools like that in Ireland, which is just neat. I thought that it was funny that, upon meeting us, Maelle and her friends immediately began asking us things about America, especially if we'd been to Hollywood or knew any famous movie stars or singers.

Saturday morning we went to the downtown part of Gorey, which is a main street similar to the one in Maynooth. Maelle and her friends were the ones to escort us around town (it was mildly amusing that Carly and I, twenty-one-year-old college students, put our lives in the hands of twelve-year-olds, ha). Maelle took us to try on perfume, and look at funny Halloween costumes, and into a sweet shop FILLED with about every kind of candy imaginable. We met up with some of the other Arcadia girls, who were coming in from their own families. It was a beautiful morning.

Gorey's Main Street. The children in blue are Maelle and her friends.

Later, in the afternoon, Carly and I went with Patricia and Holly in order to drop Holly off at the birthday party of one of her friends. While Holly was at the party, the rest of us went to a nearby very-fancy hotel and looked severely under-dressed while ordering some coffee (the hotel was hosting a wedding!). After coffee Patricia, Carly and looked at the scenery and found a secluded trail that (according to the signs) would eventually lead us to the beach. Unfortunately, the nature trail was so long that we ended up having to turn back before we actually found the beach. We went to pick Holly back up from her party but ended up staying around for nearly an hour, talking with the other parents and watching the children play. Two of the little girls even showed us some "Irish Dancing".

Sunday morning it was rainy and the wind was ferocious. Patricia treated Carly and I to an "Irish breakfast", which consisted of delicious food like eggs, sausage, beans and brown bread. I very much enjoyed it. After that, we pretty much relaxed around the house and then said our goodbyes before boarding the bus and heading back to Maynooth.

Me, Patricia, and her daughter, Holly.

I had a lot of fun with my homestay family. I thought it was a nice glimpse into the day-to-day life in Ireland. I got to meet several groups of parents at the birthday party and listen to them talk about the various happenings in Ireland. Patricia and her daughters were very welcoming and it was a great weekend, not to mention a nice break from school!

Irish Word of the Day:   family -- teaghlaigh
I stayed with a very nice family. -- D'fhan mé le teaghlach an-deas.

Today was a class day. I had one hour of Perception & Memory, in which I discovered something that I'm a bit nervous about. From what I've gathered, at least in the Psychology Department, every year you get a handbook--first year handbook, second year, etc.-- and the handbook has things (I guess) like your course list and, most importantly, the dates for the various essays and assignments due for that class! I think the handbook is someone that everyone got so everyone assumes that everyone has it. I, however, have gotten no such thing. O.O I'm a bit paranoid now because I heard mention of an essay and I have no idea when it's due. In class, the teacher just assumed that we already knew about the essay even though there hadn't been any mention of it in class before that point. *sigh* I feel like I'm so lost sometimes.

Then I went on to Discrete Structures for 2 hours. That is, 2 boring hours. There's always that one teacher, right? This one mumbles, and says "umm" too much (word of warning: don't ever start try to notice when a person says "umm", because then you won't be able to ignore it for the next...two...hours...). It doesn't help that the subject itself is also dull. So far I've already learned all the material that we're learning, in a previous Computer Science class. Plus it's math. Abstract math (so no number). Ugh.

But things turned to a bright side when I went to my first meeting this evening for Minds, the Computer Science Club on campus. I was expecting about 8 to 10 people, like the club back at Austin College. I was very surprised when I walked in and there was more like 30 people. I think there were about 6 girls? It was very intimidating. I didn't know anyone and everyone was talking and mingling amongst themselves. I did talk to some people, though, and it was all very friendly. We had a raffle for a cool mini-computer board called a Raspberry Pi. Someone else won, of course, but then they drew a second person (to see who was the "runner up") and it was ME. How cruel is that? I was the SECOND person drawn. Grr!

One thing I definitely noticed today was how different this school system is from the one back home. I mean, every university runs a little differently, but now I know that the school system in two different countries is very different too. Things here are a lot more regimented--you say "I want to go into Computer Science" and the school presents you with all the classes you will take for the next four years. There is a little flexibility--you can take this class OR this class, for example--but it all seems to stay within the department. From what I've gathered, it's very unusual to take classes in different departments, so the fact that I'm taking classes in three different departments (Psychology, Computer Science, and Celtic Studies) appears very strange. Each department is like it's own little world, so I'm having to learn how to navigate through three worlds at once.

Anyways, so tomorrow I have the day off, and then tomorrow evening I'm being delivered (courtesy of Arcadia) to my homestay location for the weekend. I'm going to be staying with a family that has 3 little boys in Gorey, Ireland, about an hour and a half away. So THAT'S sure to be interesting. Cheers!

Irish Word of the Day: Computer -- Ríomhaire.

I went to Dublin today, completely on my own for the first time. This is the third time in total that I've traveled from Maynooth to Dublin. It was actually quite pleasant, if a bit intimidating. I'm still super paranoid about getting on the right train at the right time. Fortunately, they provide plenty of notice and description of which train is which, so while heading to Dublin I just kept looking for signs for Connolly Station (which is one of the stations in Dublin).

Unfortunately, my trip to Dublin was more about business than pleasure. As tempted as I was to wander into one of the millions of shops, I stuck to my memorized directions and headed straight for 7 Upper Abbey Street, which was not too far from Connolly Station. I love The Spire in Dublin. The Spire is a giant spike at the heart of the Dublin shopping district and stands at a crossroads. It's a great waypoint. It's easy to remember something like "head straight from Connolly toward the Spire, then turn right"). The area was super crowded, of course, with people of all sorts. I passed a handful of street musicians too. I actually found 7 Upper Abbey Street fairly easily, by some miracle. I went into the hardware store and, through another miracle, they had the power cord that I needed to play my Xbox 360. It seemed almost too good to be true. I headed right back to the train station afterwards, but I took my sweet time about it. I popped into the occasional store along the way but resisted the urge to...well, you know, buy the latest video game that's out...or the latest book...

All in all it was a very pleasant trip. I went at a leisurely pace so I got to take in the sights and not push myself. The train was a nice rest for my feet before then going on the long walk from the Maynooth Train Station to my apartment on campus (well, it's a long walk for me, anyways). I'm getting much better at this whole "walking everywhere" thing, if you ask me. I'm getting much more comfortable with it. Coming back to my apartment, I looked back over my shoulder and was amazed at the distance I'd traveled all on foot. It seemed incredible. I felt like such a wanderer. So independent and urbanite! And all in a foreign country! Sometimes I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it.

When I got back to my apartment I plugged in the power cord and my Xbox 360 booted up properly, just like it should. It was one of the most beautiful sights I'd seen in this country so far (ha ha). I may not have access to any of my MMOs, but the fact that I can play my xbox now makes me feel just a little bit more normal in this place.

Irish Word of the Day: Walk -- Siúlóid. 
I was walking down the street -- Bhí mé ag siúl síos an tsráid. (The "siúl" means "walking").

Dublin Culture Night

I'm reporting now about last night, which was Culture Night! Apparently it's a holiday across Ireland where all of the museums/galleries/historic locations open their doors for free so people can come take tours and see the latest paintings or even demonstrations of various plays, music, or food. It's a crazy busy night and the perfect night for tourists like moi.

So I left Friday afternoon with a group that included all of the Arcadia girls + 2 guys (don't ask me how they got included, because I have no idea...). We all went down to the train together and took it off to Dublin, arriving just before 5pm, which is when all the exhibits opened.

We had no idea what we were going to do first. We tried the Wax Museum, but they were being jerks and not opening until 7pm. At that point, we split up and me, Carrie, and the 2 guys went off to eat at the (I kid you not, it really is called...) the Bad Ass Cafe, in the Temple Bar Quarter. It was actually more of a restaurant/bar than a cafe, but whatever. I had pasta, which would have been great except it had onions in it that I had to pick out (evil onions! Really, who puts ONIONS in PASTA?). The boys had wings, and they got messy digging into that. Surprise, surprise.

Then we went off to the Historic District. Our first stop was Dublin Castle and boy, was it gorgeous! It was more of a regency castle than a medieval castle. It had ballrooms, parlor rooms, marble statues, giant paintings of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (and a bunch of other Famous Dead Dudes). There was lots of gold and mirrors and plush, soft carpet. Talk about a place to live!

Outside of Dublin Castle, in the square.

Inside Dublin Castle, in one of the hallways of paintings.

After that we went next door, to Dublin City Hall (which is still being used today, naturally). When we got inside there was a group playing some pretty Irish music in the rotunda. I also went up to one of the official-looking meeting rooms, and actually sat in the cozy leather chair where (I was told) the Lord Mayor actually sat when conducting meetings. So that was cool.

From there we went down the street to the Christ Church Cathedral (I feel like that name seems redundant...or maybe just too much alliteration). From what I learned, the cathedral has been around in one form or another since the late medieval times and is still functioning today. They had some wonderful examples of architecture on display from various centuries, as well as numerous gargoyles. There were also sarcophagi, some of which I weren't sure were empty...

A moment of quiet contemplation in the Christ Church Cathedral.

There were also some beautiful stained-glass windows and a HUGE organ. I won't lie, when I was inside I felt like I was in the middle of a dungeon in Assassin's Creed II. I know, I know...I'm such a nerd. But the last time I was in a church like that I was scaling it in order to reach the hidden cache of ancient Assassin artifacts!

Anyways, we stopped at a few minor places along the way, but our final destination was the Contemporary Music Center. They had a lot of samples of "contemporary" music to listen to. I wasn't sure what contemporary music was when I walked in...well, it sounded very New Age. You know, symbolic. Some of it was very pretty. I especially liked one that sounded like you were in a rain forest. Then there were some stranger ones, like scratchy bleepy noises...*shrugs* whatever. I've never been a huge fan of the modernist movement. I'm a sucker for the classical stuff.

By that time it was late, like 9pm or so, and we had to start heading back. Carrie and Amanda actually stayed behind, believe it or not, to explore some more (I admire their endurance and courage!). By the time we got on the bus, traveled back to Maynooth, and walked all the way to the Apartments I was exhausted. I collapsed in my bed and pretty much went straight to sleep.

Irish Word of the Day: Art - Ealaíne

I saw some wonderful art today. -- Chonaic mé roinnt ealaín iontach lá atá inniu ann.