Advent days

Time goes fast... sometimes.  It's the second week of Advent, now.  Dörte has had the apartment pretty decked out since Thanksgiving:  Window stickers of reindeer and sleighs, advent candles, and buckets of sweets just everywhere.  There's bread chock full of fruit and dusted with powdered sugar, called Marzipanstollen, or something.  There are little flaky, sugary biscuits called Dominostones, and there are a million different brightly wrapped chocolates.  As far as healthy eating is concerned, it's a minefield... but an admittedly festive one.

We've been doing Advent Sunday teas, where people come over at about 3 and we all sit around drinking tea and eating sweets and chatting.  Dörte will light an Advent candle.  There are four, and you can light one more each Sunday.  They are red and shaped like stars.  The tallest one started out first... maybe so that it can burn down, and by the end they will all be about the same height.

In other sweets-related news, I spilled a ton of honey on my computer last night.  I had made toast with peanut butter and honey, and the heat made it less sticky and more runny, and I ended up with a big glop of it right over the keyboard.  Ha!  Probably the worst thing I could have dropped on it!  The keyboard still seems to be working fine, though - just a lack of that satisfying clicking sound when I tap on the I and the O.  But it could have been a lot worse!  My sweet tooth is taking advantage of me.

Thanksgiving!

Stuffing and sweets, turkey and tryptophan:  Thanksgiving has hit Europe, in a big way.

Yesterday, in an effort to spread the gospel of over-indulgence across the Atlantic, as well as and stave of pangs of seasonal homesickness, the Americans of Dunaras Village banded together to throw a feast of epic proportions.  

We'd been talking about Thanksgiving since probably September - throwing out recipe ideas, promising to make it happen - and then began planning in earnest during the month of November.  I set up a Facebook event that we used to invite people and coordinate dishes.  Within a few days, the guest list had leapt from about 10 to close to 30.  Nearly every person invited said they would attend, and everyone who said they would attend actually did show up.  At this point, we were worried about there being enough food to feed thirty people.

I made stuffed mushrooms, chex mix, and baked apples.  The chex mix was the trickiest portion, as I discovered, after having bought half the ingredients already, that Chex don't exactly exist in Ireland.  Neither do pretzels.  I adjusted the recipe a bit, and ended up with something more like "Shreddies Mix with Cheerios and sour cream and chive pretzel twists."  It wasn't my aunt Jean's famous Chex mix, but it was passable.

My semi-vegetarian roommate somehow ended up in charge of the turkey.  Rachel and her sister came down at about nine on the morning of Thanksgiving and we all stared at the cold, naked bird in utter bewilderment.  First, we noticed that there were still some tiny feathers stuck into the skin... so we spent the first 20 minutes plucking our turkey with a pair of tweezers.  Next, we had heard that the giblets would be flopping around inside the cavity, and that we'd need to remove them.  So brave Erin rolled up her sleeves and... stuck her hand up there.  Except she couldn't find anything.  Some fat, some suspicious squishy stuff, all still attached.  She pulled at it for a while as the rest of us squealed at every squelching noise.  Eventually, we pulled a few red, gory things out, but came to the conclusion that turkeys in Ireland do not have the junk in them.

The rest of the day was a flurry of cooking and cleaning.  I scrubbed copious amounts of mold off the walls, while Erin dusted every surface and Dörte picked up plates, glasses, and cutlery for the night.  All of the Dunaras folks were invading each others rooms to swap pie plates, borrow cinnamon, or just hang out while things were cooking.  It felt very festive!  

We had one guest show up and hour and a half early, but beyond that everyone was right on time.  People brought food of their own... lots of food.  We never should have worried about feeding everyone.  Among other things we had turkey, massive amounts of stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, another delicious potato bake, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, stuffed mushrooms, roasted vegetables, pasta salads, green bean casserole, a variety of dips and sauces and bread and crackers to dip with, appetizers, and a steaming bowl of corn.  Desserts included pumpkin pie, cheesecake, trifle, baked apples, cookies, fruitcakes, chocolates, and more.  We were pretty set.   

I ate two plates of food, and went back for dessert.  I then sat in a stupor on the kitchen floor with the other Americans, contentedly groaning as people continued to mill around and graze for the next few hours.  Our two goals were to eat a ton and for people to have fun... I think we accomplished that.  The non-Americans were converted, and the Americans were able to find a suitable replacement for Thanksgiving at home.  All in all, a successful event! 

Rain, rain, go away....

...I'd finish the phrase, except I know that Ireland will take the words to heart and come again another day.  At that, why not every other day?

I might be a tad bitter.  It's rained every day for the past two weeks, I believe.  I know, I know, I should have seen it coming, but it still gets a bit old after a while.  Normally I don't mind the rain at all - wind and rain and all those things that make walking to the grocery a little more exciting. But right now, it's raining on my fun parade, so the weather and I are in a bit of a tiff.

Original plan for last weekend:

Saturday was to be a day trip to Sligo, for archaeology society.  We were going to hike around and look at old tombs and other sites.  To me, this is nerd candy.  Definitely on board.  However, I guess being on a high, exposed hillside when the rain is pouring horizontally in gale-force winds isn't what some people had in mind.  : ) So, no field trip.  

Sunday was meant to be a kayaking daytrip to the river Inny, for some more fun whitewater/river experience.  However, like most rivers in Ireland at the moment, the Inny was pretty much washed out and unnavigable.  

The bright side!:  I went Kayaking on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  My arms are killing me, but I'm happy.  Yesterday, as a recompense for canceling the trip, some of the people in the kayaking club put together a "day of Adventurising," including some paddling in the morning, followed by a trip to the movies and ended in the Salt House (which seems to be a favorite of the club, and which they have surprisingly not been barred from yet).  I was one of a few beginners who ran the lower Corrib at full flush... I kind of thought I was going to die, but beyond that it was quite the rush.  The rest of the day was fun as well - I hadn't been to a movie since arriving in Ireland, and the pub chatting to end the day was nice and relaxing.  Proof that Ireland can be enjoyed, even in dreary weather.

Right now, I'm gearing up for finals, and trying to absorb as much Galway life as I can while I'm here.  I'll keep updating... but probably not much.  : D

Quickly

Time is running way too fast.

At some point in the last two weeks, I've fallen hard for Ireland.  I was charmed by it before, but still getting used to it, and getting used to life in general.  I appreciated the history, and liked seeing the sights, and had fun in town.  At the same time, I was a little homesick.  But I think sometime in the last few weeks, my notion of "what Ireland should be like" fell away, leaving a clearer version:  the real thing.  I suppose loving a place is somewhat like loving a person:  the initial, intoxicating attraction can be there, but it's only when you actually know them that you can love them properly.  Suddenly (and maybe it's because I realized how little time I have left) I'm really resistant to the idea of leaving.  

Part of my reluctance probably has something to do with the amount of fun I've been having.  The last couple of weeks have been a long blur of socialness (yes, me, being social).  A lot of that is due to my joining of the kayaking club.  The members seem to live for two things:  paddling and fun (which are far from being mutually exclusive).  They're an enthusiastic crew, and as welcoming as they are mischievous.  

Today I took a day tour through Connemara with my friend Erica.  Even though we've been here for a couple of months now, there's still so much to see - and Connemara is practically in my backyard.  We took a guided bus tour through the rugged, round, steep mountains north of Galway, to the beautifully situated Kylemore Abbey.  The Abbey was originally a honeymoon present.  Now its a religious institution, facing a lake and nestled against one of the few wooded hillsides I've seen here.  Once I figure out how to add photos, that should be helpful!

We got a little rain, which now comes as no surprise.  It was nothing too drastic, but the weather is definitely turning.  I'm sure it's just gently prepping me for my inevitable return to Minnesota....

Ireland on the Home Front

Since I'm still trying to sort of catch my potential followers up on my Ireland experience so far, I thought I should describe my "home life" a bit.  Dunaras, the apartment complex I live in, sometimes feels more like a port of call than a regular house.  We're all somewhat busy with classes during the week, and then are jetting off (or biking, bussing, driving, or ...training off?) to other locations around Ireland for the weekend.  So far I've done weekend or Saturday trips to the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands, Cork/Blarney, Achill Island, and Newcastle, England.  That comprises 5 of the 8 weekends I've been here so far, so there's hardly a dull moment!

When not traveling, though, I've had some time to settle into apartment life.  I like in an apartment about 30-35 minutes away from the center of town, walking.  The distance was initially the worst thing about the housing, but we've all gotten used to the walk, and even occasionally enjoy it.  I've had people say "but you're walking 30 minutes in Ireland!  It must be beautiful!"  They are probably imagining pastures of sheep and rolling hills, but it's more like strip malls and sidewalks, at least on this side of town.  Once inside the apartment, however, it starts to feel more like home.  

Both of my roommates are great.  Dorte comes from Hamburg, Germany, and we have fun pretending that I can speak German.  She is the mother-hen of the apartment building, and keeps us all on schedule and occupied, and is always good to chat with.  Erin is from Albany, New York, and is hilarious and sweet and makes me tea when we are rained into our rooms.  We have a huge sitting area, with a lovely functional attached kitchen.  We have about 3 of every utensil, which forces us to do lots of dishes, but that hasn't stopped us from cooking a lot so far.  

Living in an apartment has been great, for the most part.  At the least, it's been good training for the "adult" world.  Even the apartment I lived in last year at Concordia felt like it was still kind of "independent living 101," whereas here it feels like we're actually responsible for ourselves.  However, who knows, that could just be the whole living in another country thing.

All in all, Ireland is a good experience even when we're just staying in.  Stay tuned for our  Thanksgiving feast, which has been planned my Dunaras residents pretty much ever since we got here!

Senior Slide

Today, I'm officially halfway through my semester, as far as lectures go.  We have a couple of weeks off before exams (big, terrifying, looming exams that count for most of our grades) in order to study, but classes end at the close of November.  So, halfway through the semester, that means.... yes, that's right!  Midterms!  I was up pretty late last night, putting some final effort into one of my essays that was due today.  The other one was finished last week, thankfully - one of the benefits of swine flu, I suppose.  Lots of time where you get bored enough to do schoolwork.  

Anyway, I turned in two essays today, and started my archaeology class.  Out of my four classes, I think this one will turn out to be my favorite.  It's called "Landscapes of Cult and Kingship," and it focuses on the various ancient sites of Ireland that relate to royalty.  The class is perfect for me and my humanities major, because instead of just learning a list of dates and facts like that, we will really be delving into the social construction of "landscape," looking at how the way a culture interacts with the land and their monuments creates a mythology that becomes a part of the reality of a physical structure.  That's not really well-stated, but it lines up perfectly with the paper I'm hoping to write for my capstone.  Maybe my final essay for this class will be a good starting point!

Besides archaeology, Stories of Medieval Wales is entertaining enough, and History of the English Language satisfies my etymological nerdiness.  History of Medieval Ireland ought to be interesting, but in actuality it's a nightmare swarm of annals and geneologies and scholars spending so much time bickering with each other that nobody even looks at the primary evidence.  I would actually welcome something like "This government was established in 835, under the rulership of Brian O'Donnell."  (*made up fact.*)

In the end, though, even if all of my classes were absolutely riveting, it would be hard to focus here.  I would rather spend my time in Ireland exploring towns and learning how to live independently, rather than worry about studying.  Hopefully there's a balance somewhere.  For now, I'm glad to be done with at least two essays, and I'm ready to sit back, make some dinner, and maybe watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica.  Life is pretty good.

First Impressions - a retrospective account (Is that allowed?)

It's probably about time that I put up my first real blog post.  I'm not sure how to get everybody caught up with all of Ireland so far, but I'll try to break it down to the basics.

Arrival:

I got to Ireland on the 28th of August.  My first good view of it was from when we turned around in the plane above the English Channel, and started flying in towards Dublin for our landing.  I had barely slept at all on the 8 hour flight, but I couldn't keep my feet from tapping excitedly when I saw those green hills sloping into the ocean.  As the plane got lower, we could see sprawl of buildings that is Dublin and it's surrounding small suburbs, but right outside of that, we could also see a less-populated spread of hills and farmland, green and crisscrossed with fences.  

The first thing I noticed about Ireland when I got off the plane was the air.  It was cool, fresh, and wet.  It seemed to bode well that even on the outskirts of Ireland's biggest city, the air could feel so nice.  

After an hour and a half of customs and immigration, we three Concordian travelers (Erica, Suzanna and I) stumbled our way through the airport, sleepy and lost, until we somehow managed to find a bus headed straight for Galway.  We paid our 15 Euro, and enjoyed about 30 minutes of free wifi until we completely conked out.  I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I slept across the majority of Ireland - but nearly 2 days of being awake (between packing, goodbyes, airports, and long plane rides) will do that to you.  I woke up again about 5 minutes outside of Galway.  I looked outside to see, literally, sheep in a small green pasture hemmed in by low rock fences.  Hello, Ireland.

It was still early when we got into town, so we Cobbers dragged our luggage onto a bus, hopped off where we were fortunately supposed to be, and checked into our apartments.  The day still young, we decided to walk into town.  We marched our tired bodies through the first of many 30 minute walks to campus, and beyond that 20 minutes or so to the center of town.  The walk seems much shorter now, but that first one inspired me to get a bus pass.  We saw much of the "must see" spots of Galway, none of which are really worth seeing.  Galway isn't a place where you play connect-the-dots between 5 sites that your guidebook tells you about, to pause, take a picture, and go on your way.  There isn't really anything like that.  In order to enjoy Galway, you simply have to sit back, relax, and let it be.  There are dozens of pubs on shop street alone, and thats where the real life is.  That's not to say that all people do is get drunk (though it is a college town, when it comes to that).  But the pubs seem to be the social and cultural heart of the city.  That's where you can go any night of the week to listen to live music, sample a pint, and make good conversation with anyone who comes along.  The Irish people live up to their notoriously friendly nature, and 90 percent of the time will start a conversation with you just because.  I quickly learned my first three Irish words:  "Failte," or "welcome," "slainte," or "cheers!" and "craic," or "good fun."  The last took some getting used to, and I still giggle when I hear someone say "We'll have a lot of craic."  Don't worry, they're not druggies... just looking for a good time.

I'll update soon with more of my good times!  

Starting out

Hello!  This is my first blog post.  I'm pretty much just trying to figure out how to set this thing up.  I'll write more once I master it.