Notes on a Monday Evening

Hello Friends! Just a quick update to let y'all know I got back safely from the North. It's going to be a late night, because I have a paper due in film class tomorrow. I just got back from my last Monday-evening Gaelic class, which is a sad thing. I'm also a little bit wired because there was free coffee tonight. I wish I could keep going to classes, because I feel like it's an environment in which I might be able to actually learn the language. It's like a Gaelic club type place, and there were a lot of random people today speaking Gaelic to us, very friendly and willing to engage in a conversation. 

Things I will miss about Ireland:

Gaelic class

Public Transportation

Street Musicians

Pubs and legal drinking age

The Accent

Irish Boys

...to name a few. At any rate, I need to get back to work on my essay about America and Ireland and Movies. This whole "homework" thing is a bit hard to stomach right now... Wish me luck! And thanks everyone for your comments, I do read them and appreciate them even if it's hard to find time to answer.

-Grace

Yeats Is Cool

The host is riding from Knocknarea

And over the grave of Clooth-na-Bare;

Caoilte tossing his burning hair

And Niamh calling, Away, Come Away.

-excerpt from The Hosting of the Sidhe by William Butler Yeats

Yesterday, we went to Kilmainham Gaol and the Yeats exhibit at the National Library.  Kilmainham is where the political prisoners of the Easter Rising were held and executed. We saw the cell where Eamon deValera was held, and the yard where Pierce (sp?), Connoly, and MacBride were executed. Pretty powerful.

So I think I mentioned before (somewhere around Thoor Balylee) that I am developing quite the admiration for Yeats. I'm failing to understand how I haven't discovered him before now. Most of you know that I memorise poetry. Tolkien is my favourite poet because the rhythm and the sounds are so beautiful that the lyrics just fall into my head. So easy to learn, and beautiful to say. Yeats poems have that same quality, that lyricism. I bought a book of his collected poems at the Tower, and I spent some time memorising The Hosting of the Sidh last night. That's pronounced "shee" for you silly people who don't know Irish;). Part of the exhibit was a place to sit and listen to recording of various people reciting his more famous poems, with the words projected on a screen. I sat while it looped through twice, and now I have many poems on the "to memorise" list. My immediate projects are reciting The Hosting of the Sidh every hour for maximum retention, and continuing work on The Stolen Child.

Tonight we are going to see The Weir at the Gate Theatre; pretty exciting. Tomorrow I am leaving for the North; Belfast and Giant's Causeway. I may not find time to blog for a bit.

Heh speaking of weekends... I was in Cork, Blarney, and Kinsale last weekend. Blarney Castle was pretty much amazing. It was a real castle, and we were allowed to go all the way up to the ramparts to look out... and kiss the stone, of course. You have to lean out backwards over the battlements to kiss it; they've installed iron bars to grip so it's a little less scary and there's a dude whose job it is to sit there and make sure you don't fall. I have now kissed the stone, which means I have received the Gift of Eloquence. Winston Churchill kissed the thing before all his great speeches, so maybe there's some truth to it.

We spent a while at Blarney. There was a pretty fun walking trail, Rock's Chase, with a dolmen and other remains dating back to the druids. Also under the castle were dungeons and escape tunnels to crawl through. We ate dinner in Blarney village at a really great Indian Restaurant. Very happy food.

The next morning we took the bus out to Kinsale, which turned out to be a lovely little town on the coast. The main attraction (that we had time for, anyway) was Charlesfort, a star shaped military fort. Beautiful view, and we got to walk all over and through the old stone buildings. I found a room that had once had a roof, and it had been left to grow wild with vines and bushes pushing their leaves up towards the sun. Very peaceful, and reminded me of the Secret Garden.

I go home in less than two weeks! Hard to believe. I haven't seen everything that I want to, and now I'm having to prioritise like crazy. Also, I have a couple essays due next week, so at some point I have to do homework. Ridiculous.

I'm devoting this afternoon to homework, I think. Maybe I can get some stuff done, and then it's off to the show for my reward! 

Cheers,

Grace

Past and Present

Hello! So, my documentation has been lacking. Several VERY COOL things have happened that I haven't said a word about.

First, let's go back... oh dear. About two weeks, to Friday the fourth of July. This is the start of the infamous Galway trip, and the same day I toured Thoor Balylee.  After the tower, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. Now, if you happen to be more familiar with cult cinema than Irish geography, think Cliffs of Insanity from Princess Bride. Yup, this is where that bit was filmed.

So this was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my life. It's kind of indescribable. Here's a picture that will give you a good idea, along with some fun facts about the cliffs. Um... Well I haven't thought of anything in more than two weeks, so I guess there just isn't anything to say about how amazing this was. It was one of those things where you think it can't get any more beautiful... but then you walk two more steps, and it IS more beautiful, and you take another picture, and keep walking further along the cliffs and gosh darn it's even prettier at every single angle! At one point there's a sign that says the next bit is private property and it's illegal to walk any further... but there's a VERY well-worn trail continuing along the edge, and there were lots of tourists already up there. So we kept walking, and it was amazing. Getting the idea yet?

And on the subject of amazingly beautiful, the next day we went to Kylemore Abbey, the most photographed spot on the island. And in the interest of actually posting something and not spending forever working on an unfinished draft, I'll tell you more about that later.

I'm feeling much better, friends, and had an absolutely amazing weekend. Today I actually did some HOMEWORK, and because I feel lame staying in all day I am now taking the bus into Dublin, in search of the most exquisite lemon gelato (Italian ice cream) I have ever had. Okay, possibly the ONLY lemon gelato I have ever had. But it was amazing. This was almost two weeks ago and I'm still thinking about.

Slan agat! Ta me a hiontach innui! An bhiul to go math?

by the way, my Irish Gaelic class is going well:)

Apologies

Hello Friends! Sorry, I know I'm long due for an update, but the truth is it's been really busy around here. I went to see The Forbidden Kingdom this evening to relax a bit.

...aaand I'd tell you about all the cool stuff I've been doing were it not for the fact that I'm leaving early for Cork in the morning and I'm dead tired and NEED SLEEP to combat a cold. Here's a hint, folks: if you're in a foreign country and already pretty much stretched to your limit in terms of doing lots of crazy new things and getting out every day and still managing to wake up at 7 and go to school four days a week, it's a bad idea to stay up all night writing your history paper. The germs ATTACK. I bought zinc tablets and vitamin C throat lozenges and tissues and camomile tea, though, and I'm confident that I will beat this thing quickly. At any rate, a measly cold isn't going to stop me from kissing the Blarney Stone.

Thanks Jeanine and Yoyo for your comments, I miss you both!

I hope I'll be able to find some time to write a more detailed post. Maybe Sunday.

P.S. I got your postcard this week Mother! It was very happy.

Wanderlust

Lately I've been suffering from a strange disease. I think it's a problem with my feet, but it might be a mental thing. It's hard to tell. Perhaps something's off with my nerve endings, or messages aren't being communicated quite right. Anyway, what happens is that I start walking in a direction, and then... it's not so much that I don't want to turn around, as something won't let me. My feet keep moving, regardless of how much they hurt, and the thought of home and bed is infinitely distasteful merely because they are places I have been before.

This, friends, is how I found myself on top of Bray Head this evening. Bray is the last stop on the Dart, the commuter train which accepts our student bus passes. But I mentioned Wales, right? Yes, I was in Wales today. For about long enough to feel the wind, and climb halfway up this old stone tower. The boat ride was fun, though! We got back way earlier than I expected, around 5,  and I just didn't feel like going home... so I started walking. With the full intention of turning around and taking the Dart back home. Except continuing seemed easier than turning around, and then I realised I was in Sandy Cove, which is the next stop in the Dart. Figured I might as well get on there. But then I saw a sign for something in Dalkey, the next stop, and figured it wasn't too far away. Keep in mind that this whole time, I was walking by the sea in Ireland. I found the station in Dalkey... but I still didn't want to go home. I had heard that Bray is pretty, so I decided to head out there instead.

Bray is very beautiful. There's a beach, and at one end there's a large rocky hill called Bray Head. Here's an internet pic for you to get the general idea. I walked along the beach, and started climbing around 7. I figured I might as well. At least when I got to the top there'd be no where else for me to go:-p. It was beautiful up there, of course. It's beautiful everywhere I go here. There's a big stone cross on the rocky top, and I sat beneath it with a gusty wind blowing in my face. Then I decided perhaps it was time to go back and catch a train... but when I stood up and turned around, I realised that there was more to the trail. The hill turned into a ridge, and the path led on further to weave among other hilltops.

The road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began

Now far ahead the road has gone

And I must follow it, if I can

I swear I told my feet to go on back down, the fast way home. Somehow I ended up on the southbound trail instead. It was the weirdest sensation. I really just wanted to keep walking forever, to keep going farther and never have to turn back. I wrote a whole book called Wanderlust once, and right now I understand the main character really well.

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread.
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.

I finally turned my feet around, but only after I got around the next hill and got a view of the coast to the south, with the falling sun turning the far off hilltops gold. Even then I dithered, and only convinced myself because I didn't want to have to run for the last train. I sang a bit, cried a bit (it was honestly just the wind in my eyes. There was some hard-core wind) and set back down the road I came from.

Since then I looked it up on the internet, and I was on a four mile ridge trail. One of these days I'm going to have to pack some food and hike the whole thing. Google maps tells me I've walked about 6 miles today, and that doesn't even include the actual hill-climbing and beyond, the walking we did in Wales, and the 15 minute walk from the Dart station to my house. No wonder my feet hurt.

I'm going to Glendalough tomorrow, so I want to get some sleep! Goodnight!

P.S. The quotes are from The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, copyright J.R.R. Tolkien.

Remember Last Friday?

So. Thoor Balylee. This is an old Norman Tower which William Bulter Yeats restored with the help of his wife, George. It's set in the western countryside of Ireland, pretty removed from everything. It was a very green drive out to see it.

I could go into a lot of detail... but I'm tired and it's almost a week later. Suffice to say it was really cool. The tour started out with a narrated slideshow, which included some readings of Yeat's poetry. I haven't had much exposure to Yeats, but what I heard I really liked. The tower and the surrounding landscape inspired much of his poetry, and looking around it was easy to see why. 

The whole house is preserved as a museum, and we climbed all the way to the top on the infamous winding stair. It was definitely reminiscent of climbing the Chartres Cathedral Belltower, which my family may recall. Standing on top of the tower was an incredible experience. There I was, wind whipping my hair, a square stone tower hundreds of years old beneath my feet, looking out over a crenelated wall at a breathtaking panorama of rivers, trees, hills. Completely amazing on its own, and add to that the fact that this was the inspiration, the actual setting, for so much renowned poetry... well, it was one of the coolest ten minutes of my life.

Look at that, I actually did go into detail! I spent a lot of money there, too. I found a Celtic Book of Days that was just beautiful, and filled with quotes from mythology and old manuscripts. I also bought a matted photo of the tower, along with a book of Yeat's poetry and a few postcards.

So that was last Friday. I'll try to update soon with some more detailed Galway Trip tidbits. 

We discovered a new place in the Temple Bar area tonight. Well, we ran into a few of the guys from our program, and they took us there. It's called Gogarty's, there's actually room to stand, and they have live Irish music every single night. I'm looking forward to going back and spending more time there. The other highlight of my Thursday out on the town was an Italian Ice Cream place. I had lemon, and it was amazing.

Sorry that this is all so out of order and confused, but I'll hopefully tell you more about my week soon. I'm taking the ferry to Wales tomorrow, so I want to get some sleep tonight.

-Grace

Holy freakin' amazing weekend!

Wow. This is.. mmm... actually Sunday morning, a bit after 1 AM. I'm using one of the computers downstairs in the hostel. There are eight girls in my room and the majority of them are sleeping, so I came down here since I'm not actually tired. And bloody thunder, do I have a lot to write about.

We're gonna do this a bit out of order, because I don't think I actually have enough patience for a chronological story-telling
thing. So bear with me.

At one point, the driver (we're all very proud of Patrick, our busdriver) actually let some air out of the bus suspension (or something like that that can be lowered a minuscule amount) so that the bus was able to fit under a stone bridge. I also have a beautiful photo of us meeting another bus on a narrow road... Patrick's a hero, I tell you. Our bus and the German bus emerged unscathed, though I swear there was perhaps two inches of air between us.

Our basic itinerary:
Friday- Thoor Balylee, Cliffs of Moher, Galway.
Satuirday- Quiet Man cottage, Kylemore Abbey, back to Galway for the night.
Sunday- We're leaving for Dun Laoghaire at 10 AM

Lets talk about food experiences:). Our host families all packed us a lunch for Friday, which we ate by the river outside the Tower. Now Friday night, we went looking for food in Galway. We found a traditional looking place called Riordan's, and a few of us piled upstairs for food. It was a bit more than 14 euro, for either a starter and a meal with tea or a meal and a dessert with tea. I got a seafood chowder for a starter.... and it was amazing. Inside this chowder I identified shrimp, mussels, and pieces of something with pinkish tentacles. I'm hoping it was octopus. So it all tasted amazing, and it was like a game to figure out what everything was:). The meal was good too, really garlicky Chicken Kiev.
So the chowder was actually the most exciting food experience. But I've ended up dropping the most money so far on this little trip, and I've had a few other good meals. Soup and cake at the Abbey Canteen today (When I say "Today" I mean Saturday) and Fish'n Chips at MacDonough's in Galway.

Now let's talk about pubs! Last night (by which I mean Friday) I was with three other girls: Kaitlyn (not my roommate), Jessica, and Elizabeth. We wandered around, and found a place called Paddy's. It was kind of out of the way, very quiet, and we were the youngest people by at least ten years. It was, however, a nice place to enjoy my half-pint of cider (and laugh at Elizabeth as she got bit silly while downing her whole pint). There was supposed to be music, but the lead singer was late, so we waited a while. We listened to a few songs and they weren't that bad, but they just played American music. We left to try and find traditional music, but I when I tried to muscle my way into Taffe's I couldn't hear anything, and it was super super super crowded, so we gave up and had an early night.

Tonight was a bit silly at first. We showed up at Taffe's way early, expecting to be able to find a seat, but it was already packed and there wasn't any music so we left. By "we" I mean... Quite a few of us. I think it was Caitlin, Jessica, Elizabeth, Jill, Jenna, and I at that point. We met up with more people (Pearl and the other Jessica) and tossed around a bunch of ideas.. walked around confused for a while, stepped in some pubs, bought some ice cream... eventually we ended up at the King's Head with even more of our group (Danielle. Janna, Kiana, Jeff, David, Jackie, and I think a few more.). King's Head was very nice. Three floors, and lots of room. There was a DJ showing up later, so we opted to stay. I bought a pint of cider, and eventually there was music... but it wasn't tradional, which was just depressing.

SO. Danielle wanted traditional music too, and she had been at Taffe's last night and said it was great, so we left the King's head and went in search of music. On the way we found a firethrower-dude, who was excellent. I threw 2 Euro in his hat. Then we muscled our way into Taffes. It's not that big a pub, and it's really popular, so you really just have to throw yourself into the crowd and slowly work your way to the front. It's like a river of people, with opposing currents...

At any rate, there was traditional music. We got right up to the front, and it was amazing. The whole room was full of what the Irish would call good craic. The three member band played and sang traditional Irish tunes. They had a banjo, an accordian and a guitar. And there was even a cute drunk Irish boy for me to dance with:) I'm sort of suspecting he was actually a vampire, though, because I definitely took a picture of him and when I looked at my camera later it was GONE. I'm hoping it's just hiding on the camera somewhere... but who knows. And just in case there was any doubt, it was confirmed tonight that I am a fox. In Irish, I think that means beautiful:-p

So it's after 2 in the morning, and I think I'm going to wrap this up and go to bed. Which is SILLY, because I haven't even said anything about how absolutely stunning the sights and the countryside were. I'm talking cliffs of Moher, you guys. I mean absolutely mind-blowing beauty. Enough to bring tears to my eyes. I guess I saved this stuff (the cliffs, the tower, the abbey) for last because there really ARE NO WORDS for how breathtaking it was.

So for now I'm gonna stop trying. Let's leave this at to be continued, and I'll tell you more about the cool stuff tomorrow, when I can be a bit more coherent.

Good night!

Happy Fourth!

Hello hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I'm gonna have to make this quick, because it's 7 and we're leaving at 8 and I still have to eat and pack.

Lessee, hightlights... 

Dublin Castle on Wednesday, fun walking tour with the whole group. I'm slowly learning names. Wednesday night we went out, first to the Temple Bar and then to Fitsimmons. I discovered Bulmer's Cider. Very very good.

Fun day at class yesterday. Then I found a grocery store and a post office, and took a nap.

TODAY we are leaving for a 2 night trip to Galway. Should be lots of fun. I'm not taking the computer, because it's heavy, so don't expect an update before Sunday evening. I'm looking forward to seeing some Irish countryside, and getting some real fish and chips!

Tuesday

Hello friends! Today and yesterday were my first day of classes. We have classes Monday, Wednesday, and Tuesday. Everyone in the program is taking 2 of the 3 classes offered, and each class meets for two hours each day. I have the first two classes, so I have to be in Dun Laoghaire at 9:30AM and I'm all done by 2:00 PM.

Classes are pretty cool. I don't feel like going into detail. Maybe later.

We did watch The Quiet Man in the film class today. I actually... didn't like it at all. Well, parts of it were good. But I didn't like the way the heroine was treated.

Yesterday we went into Dublin in the evening, and discovered that most shops close before seven. Even huge bookstores. A little disappointing, but we walking around town and still had a good time of it.

Today I got some lunch at the canteen after class and then headed straight for Dublin. I was going to check out Trinity College (book of Kells!) but I realised they charged admission, and decided to go back later when I had more time. I walked up and down Grafton Street a few times, and found a discount books etc. store where I bought school supplies and art materials. Caitlin has the last class, so she met me in town at 4:30 and we walked around and went shopping.

We come back to our host family every night for dinner at 6:30, which is always really good. Tonight we had sausages with onions and peppers and mushrooms, along with baked beans and a baked potato. Fruit salad and chocolate pudding for dessert. 

Tonight we went into Dun Laoghaire after dinner, to hang out at McCormacks with a few of the guys from the program. I had my first pint of Guinness:) It was a really quiet evening. It's one of the girls 21st birthday tomorrow, so I think we're going into town to a few of the more exciting pubs with live music. You all know I'm going to love the music. I can't wait.

Tomorrow in the daytime the whole group of us is going to Dublin Castle and some other stuff in town, so I should have an interesting report. Also, this weekend is 2 day overnight trip to Galway.

Tuesday

E 5.50 - canteen lunch

E 15.00 - art and school supplies

E 14.00 - towels (for hostel stay, and so I have my own)

E 2.00 - pastry

E 5.00 - Guinness and crisps