Getting Settled

Feeling better today. My cold seems to have subsided a bit - I think the gym helped, get the endorphins flowing. I am pretty sure that I finally have a set schedule. My advisers abroad and in the States have all been extremely helpful and flexible, which I am forever grateful for. I don't think I would be nearly as calm if they all hadn't been so on top of returning e-mails and making sure things work out. I think my advisers abroad have my number on speed dial, they have to call me so often. But, nevertheless, it looks my plans of graduating early are still on track. Thank goodness. I don't think I could take it if I had to return to NU for one class, at least not when I have worked this hard to do so much in so little time. I was beginning to feel a bit defeated, but never fear, I am back on my feet once again. We all knew I could do, I just needed a little shove in the right direction.

I am meeting with the people from the YSI tomorrow, which I am very excited about, since it will allow me to work with children and get off campus for a bit. It will also enable me to immerse myself in some of the cultural aspects of Ireland, which is what I am dieing to do. More about that after the meeting!

Tonight, I have decided to step out of my shell a little bit and attend the "Back 2 the Future" Ball. Hopefully by tomorrow you will all be able to see pictures of my awesome, yet ridiculous, 80s outfit. Apparently they do not have dances in high school or junior high here, so they have them in college. There is even a senior prom. Seems like ages since I have been to a school dance. The campus also has a pretty lively bar, with cheap drinks. So, tonight sounds like it should be quite fun.

Miss all at home, but am finding a home for myself here.

What am I doing here?

I feel as if I have just been sold a huge fat lie.  My school is not in Dublin, it is in the suburbs.  My classes are only for 2 hours a week per class, so on average 10 hours of class.  I chose DCU because it had a higher GPA requirement, aka what I thought meant a more rigorous class and work ethic.  I guessed wrong.  Class gets canceled at the drop of a hat, for no reason.  For example, today I show up for my first day of class and there is a note on the door saying sorry for the inconvenience, but class will start next week not this week.  We only have 11 classes in total for the entire semester, so now there is only 10.  Plus, I know that I will miss at least one class due to travel or sickness so now, I am down to 9.  It is such a different system than the US.  I know it is going to take time for adjustment, but this seems a bit ridiculous.  What am I doing here?

My class that I need for graduation which I circled and wrote in big bold letters NEED TO GRADUATE was not put on my schedule, and then it was added, only for me to find out it is not for native English speaking students, so I am not eligible to take it.  Then I get another class to count for it, only to find out that is also for non-native English speaking students.  Another wrong turn.  And on top of all this for every class I add I need to get approval from Northeastern, so now I am convinced NU thinks I am an idiot and a huge bother because I keep emailing them asking for approval for classes I am not eligible to take.  The advisers here asked me if I would have come here if I knew the class I needed wasn't offered, and I gave them the truth, NO!  This is what I need to graduate, what on earth would have been the point of coming to a school my last semester of college if I knew it wouldn't allow me to graduate?!  I understand there is a very relaxed attitude here, especially when it comes to classes, but this is just tiring and really wearing me down. What am I doing here?

I am trying now to add an internship on top of my classes as well.  Since I only have class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I have a four day weekend every weekend, but no money to travel since it is amazingly expensive here, so it seems a bit ludicrous to have so much extra time on my hands.  They want me to work at an institution for women who have been domestically abused in Africa.  A bit frightening, but rewarding, maybe.  I asked for information on it.  Hopefully there is another place with a focus on children that sounds much more rewarding.  But, who knows if that will work out.  What am I doing here?

Nothing seems to be quite what it seems or what it was described as.  I feel like I thought I was getting into something I knew about, but it has all changed in front of my eyes without any warning.  I just can't help but wonder WHAT AM I DOING HERE?

Downtown Dublin

Went downtown on Sunday.  Just did some window shopping and wondering.  The city was very lively on Sunday.  Made me feel a bit better about being here.  St. Stephens Green was packed with couples and groups of children.  There was horse drawn carriages and street performers every where you turn.  Grafton street was packed with tourists, shoppers, musicians, even a puppeteer. 

 

 

 

This is Molly Malone.

Her song is the unofficial song of Dublin:

In Dublin's fair city,
where the girls are so pretty,
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,
As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

"Alive, alive, oh,
Alive, alive, oh",
Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

She was a fishmonger,
But sure 'twas no wonder,
For so were her father and mother before,
And they each wheeled their barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

"Alive, alive, oh,
Alive, alive, oh",
Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

She died of a fever,
And no one could save her,
And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.
Now her ghost wheels her barrow,
Through streets broad and narrow,
Crying, "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!"

The owner's daughter of Causey Farm sang this song to us when we were there.  She knew all the lyrics and could not have been more precious. 

Causey Farm

Causey Farm is not quite like any farm I have ever been on. It is about 45 minutes outside of Dublin, well probably more like an hour out of Dublin and 45 minutes from DCU. When you pull up there are multiple small one room, one story, farm houses where all the activities take place. In one day I learned 2 Irish dances, how to play the Bodhran (an Irish Drum), baked Soda Bread (DELICIOUS), cut turf in the bog, learn an Irish song, play hurling, go on a pig chase, milk a cow, play with puppies and then have an Irish meal, complete with singing and dancing. It was quite the day.

The Bodhran is a small circular drum with a small wooden stick. Here is a picture:

It is pretty simple to play. You take the tiny wooden stick and kind make a painting stroke across the front, which is made from goatskin or along the wooden side. Mainly to keep the beat.

The Irish Soda bread was delicious and super easy to make. So, for you Mommy, here is the recipes, I highly recommend it!

Equipment

• one pound loaf tin
• wooden spoon
• mixing bowl
• teaspoon
• Oven pre-heated to 200°C

Ingredients

• 1½ cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of wheatenmeal
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 level teaspoon of bread soda
• 1 small egg
• ¾ cup of butter milk
• spoon of butter or margarine to grease tin

Method

1. Grease the loaf tin thoroughly with butter or margarine.
2. Put the wheatenmeal, flour, salt and bread soda into the mixing bowl.
3. Lift the contents of the bowl through your fingers to let air into the mixture and to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.
4. Add the egg and milk and mix to a dough with the wooden spoon.
5. Put mixture in tin and bake at 200°C for 25-30 minutes. (400 F)
   
6. Turn out onto a baking tray and leave to cool.

Note: Most people would be more likely to have a 2lb loaf tin rather than the very small 1lb tin we use at the farm. Just double the ingredients if you are using a 2lb tin. Otherwise if you wish you can use a flat tin and form the mixture into a round cake for baking, marking a cross on the top with a knife, for easy cutting.

My favorite part of the day was milking the cow by far! And, the lady even said I was quite good at it. Although, it was kind of warm and awkward. Did you know that you don't pull down on the teat you simply squeeze it. Just a quick FFR for all those who one day wish to milk a cow. Now I know you all are wishing you were there to see me milk the cow, so never fear there were pictures taken:

The bog was disgusting. I was not nearly prepared for how gross it was going to be. But, interestingly enough it is completely free of bacteria, so back in the olden days they would use them as refrigerators because they are constantly at about 5 C. They would put butter and meat and such in wooden boxes and store it in the bog. As normal as this sounds unless you have seen a bog, you don't understand how thoroughly disgusting they are. Just to give you an idea:

Yes, that is green grossness aka the bog. Funny story, not too long ago a body was discovered in the bog and a man confessed to killing his wife and hiding her body in the bog, however after research was done on the body it turned out it was from over 200 years ago, so the man confessed to a body he didn't even kill, then they had to go back to the bog and dig up his wife. He had told his neighbors she simply ran off, and they all felt bad because she left him with 3 little babies. Boy were they wrong. Also not too long ago a group found butter from over 400 years ago that had been so well preserved it was still good for eating. Some fellow did try it and said it tasted fine, a bit salty but completely edible. Wild. Can't imagine storing my food in muddy dirt.

We also got to heard sheep it was unbelievably cool to see all the sheep come running towards you and how well controlled they are by the sheep dog. The owner of the farm would say stop and the dogs would stop and then the sheep stopped. It was as if they were mechanical. Completely amazing, the discipline. Sheep are beautiful creatures. I am sure most would not agree, but I think they are.

The owners of the farm was a lovely family with three adorable children all under the age of about 6. The kids ran around all day and then fell asleep sometime in the middle of the singing and Irish music and dancing after we had dinner. The farm was an amazing experience. When I think of farms of the US images of petting zoos come to mind, but this was a real working farm. We had a lively pig chase, although unfortunately we did not catch any of the pigs, I guess that means we would not be good farmers. Hurling was interesting too. Kind of like lacrosse, but played with a hockey stick. Not easy to learn. But very fun to fail at.

Here are some more pictures from the farm:

My Bread baking partner.

PIGS

We were chased by these cows around the farm. The two sheep dogs went a little nuts and decided to heard the cows and their calves while we were learning Hurling, so the four of them come charging toward us, making these ungodly noises you would never think a cow could make, all the while the farmer's wife is screaming "BAD DOGS! BAD DOGS!" And all of us are running for covering. Funny in hindsight, a little terrifying at the time.

The Puppy!

Learning an Irish Dance with Kelsey.

An Irish Broom dance that looked like it could cause more pain than fun.

More Sheep!

Finally.. An Almost Schedule.

I think I have finally, hopefully gotten my schedule sorted. It has not been easy. Think of how miserable trying to get through the round about processes of offices in the US and then trying doing it abroad, strictly through e-mail. Not awesome, but surprisingly less stressful than originally anticipated. Here is what I think (no promises yet) my courses will be:

Advanced Negotiation Skills
Crime and the Media
Anglo-Irish Literature 1
Intercultural Communicative Competence
Irish Culture and History
Resources for Ongoing Orientation

Exciting.. The last course is kind of an experimental course, and is only 6 weeks. It is pretty much about how we are adapting to the culture, I think. There was not too much information on it, but it did sound like it would be a good idea. Also, as of right now I don't have class on Thursday's or Friday's. I didn't plan it that way, but it just happens that all my classes are on pretty much on the same days. Also, the classes are only 2 hours a week. All the students here are in cohorts, which I only know about because of Mom, so thanks, Mom! They don't get to choose their classes they are just put in them. It is very different. So, the abroad kids are just kind of scattered into their classes. I am excited to start, but a little bummed because the course I was MOST excited about, Cultural Performance, conflicts with Resources for Ongoing Orientation, so I can't take it. Really lame, since that is the class you get to see Irish step dance and theater and singing. But, I am sure my other classes will great!

Looking into going to see MacBeth by the Ireland Opera, tickets are only 10 euro for students, pretty much the only inexpensive thing I have come across. Everything here is outrageously expensive, especially food. Pretty lame, but I am trying to pinch my pennies and milk Ireland for all it's worth. Especially in milk and cheese because that is AMAZING here.

More to come. Going to a farm tomorrow. Ecstatic to milk a cow!

250th Anniversary of Arthur Guinness!

Arthur Guinness Turns 250!

Thursday, September 24 at 17:59 (the year it was founded) everyone in Dublin, or all of Ireland for that matter, raised a glass of Guinness for the 25oth Anniversary!

After a cold and breezy, open topped, bus tour we all went downtown Dublin to celebrate the Anniversary. It had a vague reminding of New Years, where everyone counts down til the big number. Then Tom Jones sang "It's not Unusual" which gave us all a bit of a laugh since it seemed so American, but apparently he is from Whales. Then there was an array of other artists, none of whom I knew. We attempted to get over to the St. James square, where the Guinness Factory is, but tickets had sold out months ago. Nevertheless, just being in Dublin with all the excitement was a great experience.

I have seen so many new things, that I am learning it is going to be hard to write about all of them. I want to share all of my experiences, but then realize that I wouldn't be having any new ones because I would spend hours talking about all the old ones. Here are some of the pictures from my walking tour and bus tour of Downtown Dublin:

Famous Temple Bar
Potato Famine Statue
Entrance to St. Stephen's Park
River Liffey - Separating the Northsiders from the Southsiders

Chips vs. Crisps

Small little differences in language are starting to emerge and they are always amusing. Such as Chips being french fries and crisps being potato chips. Sometimes you need to stop and be like "Oh, wait!"

Dublin

We went into Dublin yesterday. Don and Brian took us all on a tour of the city. We saw Trinity college, which is right in the heart of the city. It is a beautiful old campus. Calling Dublin City University in Dublin, is more like saying BC is in Boston, just to give you an idea of where I am staying. In Suburbia. The city is very interesting on the government side. The buildings are all in old Georgian style which means the windows at the top are smaller and that is where the nursery would be, then there is a slightly larger set of windows where the sleep quarters are. The main two levels have the largest and most grandest windows with the first set being the entertaining quarters and then below them the dining area. The basement would be where the kitchen and servants were housed. Back during the early 1900s and late 1800s since Dublin is such a rainy city there was always a lot of mud, so there are mud scrapers outside all of the doors. I am pretty sure Mom has one too. An antique purchase, I am sure.

While that part of the city was nice, there is an overwhelming sense of Americanization in the main parts of the city. McDonalds on most corners, subway, quiznos, Burger King, Starbucks, H&M. It kind of ruins the effects of a historic city where you think it will be so different. It is like the opposite of culture shock. We did manage to find what they call a "deli" for lunch. Really what it is, is you can choose from 2 different sandwiches of the day, 3 soups, 4 salads, a quiche, and a pizza. It was inexpensive and tasty. I had the quiche with a small salad.

We then went around and say a where most of the national museums and galleries were located, which was great because anything with "National" in the title is free. We poked around the National History Museum for a bit, but by the end of walking around Dublin for five hours, I think we were all a little bit exhausted and decided to head back to Campus. I am going to need to get back into the city to explore more and figure out of the streets. As the streets continue they have a tendency to just change names, so you need to memorize landmarks as supposed to actual names. All the streets are windy and curving, but this is also a Boston specialty, so I am sure I will survive just fine.

Here is the group outside the museum!

Day 3

It is funny getting to know a new country. Things you think are very normal in the US, are not here. Little things you would not expect. I have found so far that orange juice here is not delicious. You either find 10% juice (where is the rest of my juice, thank you very much) or OJ with "Bits of pulp" which is 100x more pulpy than grovestand OJ, you literally are drinking an orange that has been blended up into a thick orangey mess. Another thing is name brands you think will not be universal will, while the opposite also applies. We found Philadelphia cream cheese, but no name brand toothpaste or anything close.

I have a roommate from Japan named Yuki, who cooked up a storm last night. The perfect word to describe him is adorable. He is always smiling and last night he was buzzing around the kitchen making a Japanese dish name Hamburg. Which is not hamburgers. He was trying to explain it to me, but it pretty much boiled down to "It's a Japanese dish." He sauteed onions and had a special sauce. It was very impressive. He told me his Mom taught him to cook. He really is just adorable. Flak and Ann Catherine (AC) my other two roommates are very sweet. We have all pitched in and bought little stuff like a pot and pan, dish soap. Little things.

Another odd thing about Ireland, possibly Europe in general is that I could buy my entire bed set (sheets, towels, blanket, bathmat, etc) for 30 Euro so about $43, but a slice of pizza is 4 euro, about $7.5. A pint of Guinness is 4.80 just if anyone was curious. But a very cute little pub across from campus has college night where all drinks are 3 euro, and Patty and Purick (Which is really just Irish for Patty) the bar tenders were explaining to us all about where to go on which night.

Today is the "practical walking tour" so as they enjoying saying here "Boys and Girls lace yer shoes up."

Ireland Day 1

I made it. Moved in around 9am this morning, so about 4am in Boston. Campus is a little different than I expected. It's farther out of the city than I had thought. More in the suburbs. I live in a five room apartment, so far I have met 2 of my roommates, both girls. One is from VA but going here for the full three year college and then the other is from Iowa and is here for a full year. I am happy to be here for my short little three months.

I miss home a lot. I guess more I miss having friends at the touch of a button. I miss being able to talk to people whenever I want. Here it is like freshman year all over again, meeting new people and explaining your background and where you are from. It's a little tiring. I am also by far the oldest person here. I think the average age is about 19 and they are all overly excited to be able to drink legally. It is a little bit of a damper on the abroad experience. I am hoping it will be better when more of the upperclassmen show up next week when classes start.

The strangest thing is that right now on campus is freshman orientation and believe me you would never know it. The campus looks deserted. I have not seen one other person. And, unlike the US, they don't really do anything different to campus to welcome back the students. No banners, balloons, activities. It is very strange. There aren't even any people here, but since one of my roommates is a freshman I know that all the freshmen are here. Very odd.

Today we are meeting at 1 to go over campus and go to the mall to get groceries, sheets, etc. I wish I had sheets now because a nap sounds unbelievable. Oh well. Soon.

Last day in Boston

In less than 12 hours I will be on the flight to Ireland. It's weird to think that this time next week I will already have been in Ireland for an entire week. Getting up to Boston was, surprisingly, less hectic than I thought it would be. Mom dropped me off and we only shed a few tears, but I have a sinking suspicion she dropped me off then cried behind a tree like she did when she sent me to kindergarten.

This weekend with Scott has been great. Relaxing and fun. Just what I needed. We went to the South Boston street Festival yesterday. There wasn't really much there, but it was fun. Then we went to Sullivan's and had clam chowder and soft serve. Last night we went to Barking Crab and ate enough shrimp to last me a year. It was delicious. It is strange to be sitting on the couch with him in the living room and think that I am not going to be back here for three months. It's hard. I am exciting, but scared, nervous, anxious.

Let's keep the fingers crossed and the hopes high.

New York to Boston

I leave tomorrow for Boston. Last week I was nervous, sad to leave home, scared of the future. Now, thankfully, I am a bit more relaxed about going. My bags are packed, but its the stress of getting from NY to Boston with all my stuff for Ireland, plus stuff for the weekend, that is still hanging over my head. It is almost time to leave and I am just hoping that I will not be a complete crying mess when I say good bye to Mom. Definitely the hardest part. Mom and I talk everyday, now we have to schedule when we are going to talk. It's weird. I keep thinking I am going to forget something. Hopefully that won't be the case.

I wonder what it will be like. I have never been to Ireland, or Europe. I am tired of hearing what a good time I will have. At this point I just want to get there, see everything meet all my new roommates and make new friends. I hope classes are similar to the ones I have taken. I love school, so I am sure it won't be too difficult to adjust, but it is different going into such a new situation and not having any idea of what to really expect. Everyone knows I am a planner, an extremely organized and detailed person. So, diving into the unknown is a bit unnerving, but exhilarating. Well, here goes nothing. Ireland, here I come. (Well, Boston here I come, then IRELAND!)