The gift of eloquence

I haven't written in awhile. I could say it's because I'm out on big adventures all day with no time, but to be honest, every time I open my computer I end up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix. I'll try not to do that too much anymore so I don't have giant blog entries to write. I think I have to go all the way back to last Friday...

My friend from California, Hayden, and I went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library. It's a 10€ entry fee, but so worth it. The Book of Kells is a lavishly decorated four volume book of the four Gospels of the Bible. The exhibit shows how much effort went into the text and it is unknown who created it. They do know that there were multiple artists and scribes because of the different styles. It is thought to be written around the year 800. There were so many different resources they used for decorating the pages with such vibrant colors, even roots from trees were used. Some things were familiar and I realized how similiar they were to symbols in Game of Thrones and Harry Potter. I wonder if any famous authors paid a visit to Trinity College for some inspiration. There was an emphasis on the symbol of the peacock having to do with the resurrection of Christ. I couldn't take pictures, but here's an example of it used from the Internet: 

There were symbols for words like and or the. I don't know how anyone read this book, but it's beautiful. As you move closer to the Old Library it gets very cold. I'm assuming they do this for preservation. I could take pictures at that point in the exhibit so here are just a few:

The place was giant and absolutely incredible. You cannot go to Dublin without spending some time there. 

Saturday morning six of us got up early to get a taxi for around 6:30am to bring us to our Air Coach bus that left for Cork, Ireland at 7am. We slept most of the bus ride, but I woke up when the sun was rising over grass hills and Mumford and Sons was on the stereo- perfection. It finally felt like I was in Ireland. We checked into our bed & breakfast, the Lisadell House, around 10:30am. The couple that runs the B&B was so kind. We were quite literally guests in their home. They showed us pictures of their children and grandchildren and made us a generous Irish breakfast (the one you can actually order in Ireland, not the drink). I ended up having two of them because our French friend, Marine, said she could only have coffee and bread/pastries in the morning- how French of her :). We were only about a two minute walk from the bus stop so we headed out for the Blarney Castle. The entrance fee was around 11€ (student pricing). I read online that the castle looks different from various areas on the estate. Sometimes it looks like it's from a fairytale and sometimes it looks like the set of Game of Thrones. I don't know if the pictures will do it any justice, but here they are:

We thought we were going into the castle through some secret entrance and started walking into a cave. It was NOT an entrance. It kept getting smaller and smaller as we went on and then it just stopped with an opening big enough for two people. I had a cluster phobic  moment when we tried to turn around and realized a tour group of almost twenty people had followed us into the cave. We did eventually make it into the castle- the correct way. On the way to the top, we passed through a bunch of old rooms with little stories of what they used to be. Going up was very narrow. We were all wondering how people even got through the doorways, let alone the stairwells, in huge dresses or being overweight. 

The legend of the Blarney Stone is that if you kiss it, you'll receive the gift of eloquence, or speaking well. It was interesting to find out all of the well know public figures who had paid a visit there... Kissing the stone is no easy task. You have to grab bars and lower yourself down into a hole that you could easily fall through that goes all the way to the groud. There is a guy that holds you and tells you that you won't fall, but it's very intimidating when you're trying to reach the stone. It's much farther away than it seems. 

After we all kissed the stone, we attempted to climb a giant tree. The pictures on Facebook are the after math of numerous attempts to get on the tree branches. We went to the "house" on the estate, but the inside was closed.

There was a lot to explore throughout the estate. We saw a fox and it was giant. I've seen plenty of foxes, but I've seen three since being here and I swore out loud the first time because I was so shocked by its size. We got about 15 feet  away from the one here before scaring it away. 

On our second day in Cork, we walked around a park and around the city until we happened upon this incredible church: 

It's called St. Finn Barre's Cathederal and it's just on a radom street in town, totally out of place. 

Incredible. 

We got back home to Dublin before 9pm on Sunday. Last night I went to a trip through my university, UCD. we went to a pub called Mary Ploughboy and got a free drink and a free show of traditional Irish music and some Irish step dancing. I'll put a few videos up on Facebook of my time there. When we got back, Hayden and I planned two trips, one to Prague and the other to Amsterdam with Adriana. 

Today was Larissa's birthday so we threw her a surprise party. Our friend Daniel was eating ketchup on his popcorn! He also puts it on pizza and chips along with various other snacks. The Brazilians think I'm crazy for drinking milk with my meals, especially with chicken. When I questioned what Daniel was doing to his popcorn he said, some people put butter on it, but he like ketchup much better. I've worked at two movie theaters for about three years total and I've never seen someone do that. I took a picture for proof. 

Wanderlust

Wanderlust: A strong desire to travel.

My classes are great! The students are actually serious and want to learn. Besides a few group projects, I don't really have homework. The professors say that there is suggested reading, not a bunch of expensive textbooks to buy. For the most part they post articles online for us through Blackboard, similar to Angel for those of you from Oswego. I have an American professor who told us if we email him in the wrong format, he will spam us with pornography. I have two Irish professors, one who's last name is Feeney. He made a Boy Meets World reference and everyone laughed because it's an all American class. He told us that if it was an Irish class, no one would get it. I also have a professor from Bangladesh. I'm only in class for eight hours a week at the most, four days a week. Not being an RA this semester is really weird because I actually have down time. The fact that I even have time to write this amazes me.

Yesterday I went to St. Patrick's Cathedral and it was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s. There was a lot inside that was dedicated to military forces in several wars. There was also a smaller chapel in the back, behind the alter, that was called the "Lady Chapel". It was originally used to let other denominations practice their religion peacefully.

Leave a note for someone affected by war...

Lady Chapel 

I went shopping at a bargain store and got a pair of jeans, shoes, and 5 stockings for 30 euros, about $36. It was dangerous to be in there because I wanted to buy everything. There were such good deals. Surprisingly, I stuck to what I needed though. I needed new shoes because I can't wear my boots, which are falling apart, with a dress. The bottoms of my shoes are practically detached and sooner or later I would get caught in the rain. I most likely won't wear either of the heels I brought again. I tried, but it was not convenient in the stone streets or on the slippery (or sometimes cover in broken glass) floors of clubs and pubs. That's probably why everyone is wearing big clunky heels here.

Hayden and I somehow found our way back to the right bus stop yesterday. I am starting to realize where I am now, but thankfully I have google maps for back up. I have decided on not getting a phone or international plan here. I have had no issue staying in contact with anyone from home or here and free wifi is so common here. I can download a map to save offline from google maps and the app can almost always find your location, even with no service, wifi, or 4G. I screen shot the directions before I leave the bus (free wifi on the buses as well) and I'm good to go. To talk to people I text through WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or iMessage, I call through Facebook Messenger, and I video chat through Skype or FaceTime. Everything is very simple and free!

Even though I have been here for less than two weeks, I feel like I cannot go back home the same at this point. The days that I am not sight seeing, traveling, or getting lost, I am very antsy. I want to get up and go places, go anywhere, really. It's going to be hard to adjust back to living in a much smaller city at home. I do miss driving, and being able to leave whenever I feel like it without looking at a schedule for buses or flights. I feel like when I get back I will be horrible at driving, but hopefully it's like riding a bike.

I am taking a trip with four other girls tomorrow to County Cork, home of the Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone. In two weeks, three of us will fly to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. I've always wanted to say that- acting so casual about taking a trip to another country for a few days. Honestly though, it's just as surprising to me as anyone else. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love to travel, but doing it on my own for the first time feels so surreal. This past semester, my Hall Director, Kevin Speer, said he was buying things on his bucket list and he started to travel a lot. To be honest, I thought it was a little crazy he was buying a bunch of stuff and spending money on traveling too. But now I realize how important it is to live in the now and do what you want rather than wait. There's obviously a time to save, but my advice is to take the time to be impulsive and happy. Thanks Kevin :).

Culture Shock

On Saturday I went to the Guiness Storehouse for a self guided tour. Even though it's a touristy thing to do, it was amazing. The tour is mostly audio/video, with some places for light reading. They have a lot of the original machines and stories about the Guiness family. They had 21 children and buried 11. Arthur Guinness' wife, Olivia Whitmore, was pregnant for 16 years of her life! She helped create their family legacy through her family influence. Their family was similar to the Morgan family in the U.S. They financed a lot of places in Dublin for repairs and held the city together economically. 

You, of course, get free samples on the tour. One is small and you go through a sensory stimulation first before you have it. Unfortunately I couldn't have any of the samples because it contains gluten, but my friends enjoyed mine for me. 

We ended the tour in the Gravity Bar around 5pm, so all the lights were on in the city. 

I booked a tour of the Jameson Distillery for February 2nd. Booking flights, tours, buses, and hostels is stressful, but a good stress- eustress. I got a round trip flight to Scotland for less than 30€ (about $35). I also have a trip planned for visiting Cork soon to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. I really want to go to Italy for spring break, but I don't want to go alone. 

I took a class last semester on international business and we discussed the topic of culture shock. At the time, I thought there was probably some truth to it, but that I would probably not experience it to a great extent because I have wanted to come to Ireland for so long and there isn't a big language barrier. I was VERY wrong. The first stage is the Honeymoon stage, filled with overwhelming positivity and excitement. This is what most people feel while they are on short vacations with a set return date. What the graph below calls the next stage is Argh, which has anger, frustration, homesickness, etc.

There are 20,000 more students on campus now and it seems like everyone was walking in groups catching up with each other. I think I started to hit the Argh stage yesterday. I wanted to find all my classes yesterday because I have no class on Mondays. I found one classroom in the Law building:

Then I got lost, very lost. I was using google maps on my phone to find my way through campus. 

Today I found the class I was looking for and I'm waiting for the class before me to get out now. Wish me good luck!

Brazilian Tour Guides

I've been busy with orientation events the past few days, but now there is nothing else mandatory on the schedule. I had some meetings with just Americans and I honestly felt out of place. People from other countries seem to want to meet new people more and it's easier to start up a conversation with them. So far, I have come across very few Americans here who aren't spending a lot of time with people they came with from their home university.

I went out with my roommate and some of her friends the past two nights with a girl from California who goes to school in Michigan, Hayden. When you're studying abroad somewhere where it's easy to go to other countries you make friends quickly. It's intimidating to travel somewhere new completely alone and it can be dangerous. It seems like as soon as you find someone who wants to go to the same place, you talk about planning a trip together. It sounds dumb, but it's safer to travel with strangers than to do it alone. I met Hayden on Wednesday and we are thinking about taking a trip to Scotland in a few weeks. 

The Brazilians are great tour guides. They have been here since June so they know when to get off the bus and what pubs will be good on what days. Adriana said that if you wait for good weather in Ireland to go out, you'll never leave. On Wednesday we went to the Temple Bar, a main tourist attraction. I thought it would be good to get it out of the way while I still feel like a tourist. Apparently it was really empty compared to how it usually was. We actually got a seat and listened to the music. They do rip you off on your drink prices though. I got a Bulmers cider for 6.50 euros. We made up for the expensive drink at the Temple Bar when we went to a club after called Howl at the Moon. There was a special that night where all drinks were 2.50 euros, but you had to pay a 5 euro cover fee at the door. There was much more dancing and no Irish music at the club. I prefer pubs, but the problem is finding one right now with people our age at them. Most of the Irish students are still on break from school and not out at the pubs, so they are empty. There is a surplus of old creepy British guys though. 

Today was sunny...finally. I explored the campus with Hayden and my other French friend, Marine. This campus is GIANT. I went to the Student Center and got a "Leap Card". You load money onto it for a discount on bus tickets and you can just swipe it rather than waiting for a ticket to print or counting change. The bus rides are expensive and its inconvenient to worry about keeping change on you. If you over pay you have to go somewhere in Dublin to pick up the change.

I'm staying in tonight to save some money and to get something in me besides liquid calories, as Hayden put it. Here are some pictures of the campus:

Student Center, Olympic sized pool to the right

"The Lake"

One of the huge fields...

Some weird/cool campus things:

-You can get your groceries delivered to campus (I finally found gf bread)

-You can get fined for being on your phone or being noisy in the library

-Random wall in the library with Ghandi quote and MGDs!

-You stay to the left on the escalators...but where do you stay on the side walk? (Library escalator- 4 floors)

-You get fined if you lock yourself out of your room/apartment (my house below)

-Floor -1 and 0!

Quote of the day: 

What's the future like, Megan? -Dylan Crawford 

Tupperware

All three of my roommates, Larissa, Ryan, and Andrew, moved in at the same time yesterday afternoon.  Ryan and Andrew are American and Larissa is Brazilian. Brazilians also say hello with a kiss on the cheek, but only one. They later explained the awkwardness of this when they meet French people, who do two kisses. Larissa quickly settled in and then we went to her friend's house that is also a part of the Merville Residences. We met Adriana's French roommate and then went to the pub on campus together. I got a Jameson on the rocks for my first drink in Ireland. I can't have beer so I have been trying to figure out what I can have when I go to pubs. Oh, by the way, an "Irish Breakfast" gets you food in Ireland, not Jameson with Irish cream and an orange juice. Larissa and Adriana, who have been here for a semester already, told us about how different the guys are here and how shy they are. They told me that I was much easier to understand than the Irish because, "the Irish speak with a potato in their mouth." Word. For. Word. I don't think that can be put more accurately or historically.  Apparently there is a club on campus as well and it is open (and full) every day of the week. People go out here at 5pm and usually start to turn in around 11pm. This way you avoid cover fees at the door and the buses stop running at 11pm. You can always take a cab back but it's more expensive. There is the equivalent to the D-Bus here, but you can't call it unless you have a group of about 20+ people or you have to catch it at the bus stop.

Adriana and her French roommate were trying to explain some of the things they needed to buy and were looking to me a little bit to find the English word for what they were describing. Adriana went off in Portuguese to Larissa, frustrated she couldn't find the word she was looking for. I heard her say "tupperware" somewhere in there and repeated it to her and her roommate did the same. Of all things, tupperware seems to be a universal word. 

It snowed here yesterday and most of the Brazilians had never seen it before. It was like watching a little kid in Disney World. They were completely, utterly entranced. I didn't anticipate it being this cold here, so I came a little unprepared. I have a few hats and gloves, but I've been avoiding my North Face jacket because I really want to beat this negative American stereotype. So far I have been layering jackets, but today is going to break me. It is supposed to rain most of the day and even though it say 39 degrees, it feels like 25. 

I'm getting a bit of a late start this morning because last night I went back to Adriana's house. Hanging out with the Brazilians is like being home again in Waterbury Hall. They are such a welcoming culture and invite me to everything. There are a lot of them here to the point where they joke that we might actually be in Brazil instead of Ireland. 

Bonjour!

After all of my flights, the bus over, and my check-in process, I passed out- for about 16 hours. Then I woke up at 5am got ready, and passed out again...until 9:30am when a giant, and I mean giant, lawn mower passed by my window and scared the bejesus out of me. I had planned on taking a 10am bus to the city centre so I rushed to the Global Lounge (about a 10 minute walk). When I got there, with five minutes to spare, they said we wouldn't be leaving until 10:30 at the earliest. While waiting for the group to leave for the bus stop, I met a French business student, Margaux. I met a few more of her friends from a French business school in Toulouse. We all went on a double decker bus to Dublin around 11. They were very cold in their big winter coats in the 40 degree weather, but I was fine in my light jacket.

We found a small store on the main pedestrian street in Dublin to buy groceries at. Wow am I American. I got the largest milk I could find, half a gallon, a dozen eggs, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and greek yogurt for 12euros. One of the French friends with me, Audrey, got lettuce and apples. They said they usually only buy for one day or maybe two. I have never walked out of a grocery store with just one bag before today. I did not find any gluten free specific food items in the small (and very expensive) grocery store on campus or the one I visited. By the way, if you are a smoker coming to Ireland at any point, stock up- they are 10euros here, the equivalent of $11.77. The French people I was with purchased some and had them twice today. I'm promising myself that I will not come back to the states with a smoking habit and I think that will be pretty easy considering the cost.

When we got back, we went to a campus cafeteria. I met another one of their friends from their home college, there was now a total of 6 of us. Before I could say hello, he kissed both of my cheeks, la bise, and then realized I was not French when I laughed. They were impressed that I knew what it was and they are trying their hardest to speak English around me. I got chicken curry because I assumed it was gluten free...and it was, thankfully. I need to push myself to actually ask in the future because I may not get that lucky every time. I felt really pressured to keep moving though because there was a long line forming behind me. My experience with waiting so far is that it doesn't happen, unless it's for a bus. The buses and cars do NOT wait for you to get across the street. The line at the grocery store was similar to an Aldi's, in that you bag up your own items. I was just being handed a bag by the time another person's groceries were being sent in my direction.

I found a couple brochures in my lobby area. I plan on taking a Game of Thrones tour in Northern Ireland and going on a tour of the original Jameson Distillery in Dublin. The French people I spent the day with got a head start on drinking at the pub on campus already. I had to drop off my groceries, so I'll be meeting up with them soon. There is a pizza party tonight at 6pm; hopefully I'll find something to eat there.

My campus ID is really versatile; I used it to pay for lunch today. I loaded money on it from my checking account at home and paid in US dollars online. I can use it for vending machines, cafeterias, swimming in the olympic sized pool, the gym, laundry, etc. This way I can avoid an exchange rate fee that might happen with my American debit card.

P.S. Thank you Grandma for teaching me to have a sense of direction. It saved my but in the airport trying to figure out what buses and trams to take to get to the right terminals. It made my flying process much less stressful.

Leaving on a JetBlue Plane

To keep people up to date with what's going on and to keep some kind of record of my travels, I'm going to try and add stories and pictures to this blog as much as possible. 

So, traveler's log #1

I'm trying to get rid of my nerves by listening to a ton of Flogging Molly on Spotify (way better than iTunes Radio or Pandora for those of you who haven't become addicted to it yet). I've got 16 hours of travel today between 4 airports. The woman that checked my bag got it checked all the way through to Dublin! I barely made it without having to pay for my bag, which has to be 50 or under:

Thank you Grandma for the luggage scale! I'm hoping my carry on bags work out okay. I measured them before I packed and they fit the maximum limits...then I realized they would expand when I packed them. A few inches won't kill anyone, I hope.