It's been a fairly quiet weekend here, which was definitely needed after the past month. The Semester Start-Up Programme is officially over (except for the final paper due Friday). But classes are done. Actual term classes don't start for another week, so there is actually no work to be done this weekend.
Sarah, Alex, Jake, and I went to Eamonn Daron's Friday night. I was truly impressed with the club despite it's Temple Bar location. Temple Bar is the main touristy going-out neighbourhood and tends to be over-priced and not worth the money. But Eamonn Daron's played great music- there was even some Nine Inch Nails! The bar was not inexpensive, but it beat the rest of Temple Bar by about 3 euros per drink. (I once paid 7 euros for a glass- not even a pint of Guinness in Temple Bar. Anywhere else in the city you can get a pint for 4.)
The weather here has definitely turned and is not going back. It's also gotten a lot rainier. It rains at least once a day now- the first two weeks we were here it didn't rain once. But now it's colder- about 50 degrees and it feels a lot worse because some part of my clothing is usually rain-soaked.
Sarah and I had an interesting adventure at immigration on Thursday. I now have a new sympathy for illegal immigrants in the US. When I went through immigration at the airport I was given thirty days to register with The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) in Dublin. I'm not staying long enough to need a full visa, but they want to know that I'm here and when I'm leaving in case I cause any trouble in the meantime.
When we arrived at 11:00 we were given numbers 335 and 336 in the queue. They had just called number 156. That was okay- we had come prepared with laptops, books, and journal entries to write. It couldn't take more than a few hours, right?
Wrong. After writing three journal entries and taking a nap propped up against a pillar we left to find lunch. We spent over an hour at an amazing Malaysian- Chinese food place on O'Connell Street. We walked the five blocks back very slowly. We wrote more journal entries. I read 200 pages of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Then, six and a half hours after we arrived, I was called to the desk. I handed over my passport, the letter from Trinity stating that I am, in fact, a registered student living in the dorms and that all my fees are paid, and my bank statement saying that I have enough money to support myself while I'm here. Luckily the Garda officer did not make me get a registration card- saving me another 100 euros. She stamped my passport and I'm allowed to "remain in the state for purposes of study until 14 December 2007".
Nearly eight hours after arriving at the GNIB, I made it home. Longest day and longest line ever.
One last interesting fact: The exchange rate gods have once again smiled on the Irish. It now costs $1.46 to buy 1 Euro. My pre-class cup of tea now costs me $3.29. For a small tea. :-)
I'm excited for Fresher's week. That's what we call the week before classes, which basically means meetings during the day and parties at night. All the clubs and societies are vying for members, and it's a general consensus that whichever group throws the best party gets the most members. I'm also going to a formal on Wednesday night. It's a a grand hotel in County West Meath. My date is an Irish rugby player. I will post pictures on Thursday for sure.
30 September 2007
26 September 2007
'My Hairdryer Sets Off The Fire Alarm' and other tales of cultural adjustment
So yes, it is true: every time I use my hairdryer the security guard knocks on my door to tell me that the (heat, not smoke sensing) fire alarm is going off for my room. At least the alarm doesn't evacuate the building like the ones at AU.
Some other cultural differences no one ever mentions:
- Cherry coke doesn't exist here. Don't ask why.
- If you are a woman and there are men around, don't light your cigarette. Just hold it for a minute and someone will light it for you. (I did not discover this one on my own- thanks Sarah :P )
- When taking a cab, do not give two street names. "Pearse Street and Westland Row, please" is completely inappropriate, and the cabbie will never fail to ask for clarification. Just say "Pearse Street" and when he gets to Pearse Street he will ask for further direction.
- Don't try to accomplish anything between 12 noon and 2pm. It's futile because the only places of business that are open are restaurants. Go eat lunch and then resume your business.
- Don't assume that pharmacies sell anything other than medicine. Shampoo is even a stretch. Where do you go to procure some shampoo? Who knows- sometimes they have it in the grocery store, but not always...
-Vocab lesson:
- Like to watch rugby? You're a rugger-bugger
- Need to wash your clothes? Head for the laundreteria
- Meeting someone when the little hand points the the three and the big hand points to the six? Yep, that's half three, not three-thirty you silly American!
- Where to put that gum wrapper? In the rubbish bin, of course!
The anthropology dork in me is having a field day with this. The cultural differences are subtle, but they are definitely there and some of them are hysterical.
My presentation went well. I discovered the common link between WB Yeats' occultism and JB's love of the circus- Their father, John Butler Yeats was a metaphysician. A what? He studied the nature of existence. Are the things you experience real? Plato would say that experience is the only reality- how can you know it exists if you haven't seen it? Kant, on the other hand, would say that experience cannot be reality because it is filtered through the warped lens that is your mind. Metaphysicians spend their careers debating these two points of view.
Jack Yeats was on Plato's side. He was fascinated with clowns because they are real- you can see them and touch them. But they're not really real, are they? WB was more like Kant in his thinking. He thought that experiences were fluid- some are genuine, others are distortions of the truth.
Currently I am using this blog to "take a break from" (a.k.a. procrastinate about) my journals. The tours that we've taken were all supposed to be documented in 500-word essays.
3 tours/ week x 3 weeks = nine journal entries, total written = four. They are due tomorrow. This is my way of saying I really ought to get back to work :)
Some other cultural differences no one ever mentions:
- Cherry coke doesn't exist here. Don't ask why.
- If you are a woman and there are men around, don't light your cigarette. Just hold it for a minute and someone will light it for you. (I did not discover this one on my own- thanks Sarah :P )
- When taking a cab, do not give two street names. "Pearse Street and Westland Row, please" is completely inappropriate, and the cabbie will never fail to ask for clarification. Just say "Pearse Street" and when he gets to Pearse Street he will ask for further direction.
- Don't try to accomplish anything between 12 noon and 2pm. It's futile because the only places of business that are open are restaurants. Go eat lunch and then resume your business.
- Don't assume that pharmacies sell anything other than medicine. Shampoo is even a stretch. Where do you go to procure some shampoo? Who knows- sometimes they have it in the grocery store, but not always...
-Vocab lesson:
- Like to watch rugby? You're a rugger-bugger
- Need to wash your clothes? Head for the laundreteria
- Meeting someone when the little hand points the the three and the big hand points to the six? Yep, that's half three, not three-thirty you silly American!
- Where to put that gum wrapper? In the rubbish bin, of course!
The anthropology dork in me is having a field day with this. The cultural differences are subtle, but they are definitely there and some of them are hysterical.
My presentation went well. I discovered the common link between WB Yeats' occultism and JB's love of the circus- Their father, John Butler Yeats was a metaphysician. A what? He studied the nature of existence. Are the things you experience real? Plato would say that experience is the only reality- how can you know it exists if you haven't seen it? Kant, on the other hand, would say that experience cannot be reality because it is filtered through the warped lens that is your mind. Metaphysicians spend their careers debating these two points of view.
Jack Yeats was on Plato's side. He was fascinated with clowns because they are real- you can see them and touch them. But they're not really real, are they? WB was more like Kant in his thinking. He thought that experiences were fluid- some are genuine, others are distortions of the truth.
Currently I am using this blog to "take a break from" (a.k.a. procrastinate about) my journals. The tours that we've taken were all supposed to be documented in 500-word essays.
3 tours/ week x 3 weeks = nine journal entries, total written = four. They are due tomorrow. This is my way of saying I really ought to get back to work :)
22 September 2007
Belfast and Kilkenny
A little delayed, but better than never. Last week's Friday tour was to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It took us about four hours to get there on the bus. The scenery is gorgeous, but the coolest thing about driving through Ireland is that there are livestock grazing on the side of the highway. I swear there are more sheep than people in this country. And cows- lots and lots of cows.
We spent the morning at the Ulster Folk Museum. It's a recreation of an eighteenth century Irish Town. Complete with working shops and a farm. You can walk through the "countryside" bit and see some more livestock- this time only chickens though. And you can walk into all the stores and check out the machinery in places like the blacksmith and printing press. We had lunch at one of the shops and it was absolutely terrible. I never believed what people said about British food being horribly bland and tasteless, but it really is.
We spent the early afternoon on a driving tour of downtown Belfast. We drove up the main road in the Unionist/Loyalist neighborhood, and then back down the main road in the Republican area. There are murals and flags and all kinds of other propaganda featuring the emblems and colors of each side. It was a little unsettling to see how not far from conflict the city really is. The walls between the two neighborhoods are still up and in use- they only close them on days when the risk of an outbreak of violence is high, such as Saint Patrick's Day. Our professor who was giving the tour pointed out the house he was living in when he was bombed about fifteen years ago.
This week's Friday tour was to Kilkenny, a small city about two hours south of Dublin. We toured the Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle. The Cathedral is Anglican which is still a little weird to me because they charge admission and they keep to tombs of some dignitaries in the actual sanctuary. The tombs are slightly unsettling. The stained glass at this one was particularly beautiful, though.
Kilkenny Castle was built in 1596 for the Earl of Ormand, whose family lived there until the 1930s. They abandoned the castle in 1937, I believe- then they sold it to the Kilkenny Historical Society in the 60s. It's beautifully restored now- most of the architecture is original and the furnishings are either original or contemporary.
This weekend and most of next week will be spent putting together my art history presentation. I had to choose one the the topics we covered in class to give a 10 minute presentation on. I chose Jack Yeats. The entire Yeats family were artists- John Yeats was a painter, and his son William Butler was an amateur painter as well as one of Ireland's most celebrated poets and playwrights. Jack was William Butler's brother and also a painter. Specifically, I am exploring the possible links between Jack's fascination with the circus (he painted about 700 scenes of it) and William's fascination with the occult.
We spent the morning at the Ulster Folk Museum. It's a recreation of an eighteenth century Irish Town. Complete with working shops and a farm. You can walk through the "countryside" bit and see some more livestock- this time only chickens though. And you can walk into all the stores and check out the machinery in places like the blacksmith and printing press. We had lunch at one of the shops and it was absolutely terrible. I never believed what people said about British food being horribly bland and tasteless, but it really is.
We spent the early afternoon on a driving tour of downtown Belfast. We drove up the main road in the Unionist/Loyalist neighborhood, and then back down the main road in the Republican area. There are murals and flags and all kinds of other propaganda featuring the emblems and colors of each side. It was a little unsettling to see how not far from conflict the city really is. The walls between the two neighborhoods are still up and in use- they only close them on days when the risk of an outbreak of violence is high, such as Saint Patrick's Day. Our professor who was giving the tour pointed out the house he was living in when he was bombed about fifteen years ago.
This week's Friday tour was to Kilkenny, a small city about two hours south of Dublin. We toured the Cathedral and Kilkenny Castle. The Cathedral is Anglican which is still a little weird to me because they charge admission and they keep to tombs of some dignitaries in the actual sanctuary. The tombs are slightly unsettling. The stained glass at this one was particularly beautiful, though.
Kilkenny Castle was built in 1596 for the Earl of Ormand, whose family lived there until the 1930s. They abandoned the castle in 1937, I believe- then they sold it to the Kilkenny Historical Society in the 60s. It's beautifully restored now- most of the architecture is original and the furnishings are either original or contemporary.
This weekend and most of next week will be spent putting together my art history presentation. I had to choose one the the topics we covered in class to give a 10 minute presentation on. I chose Jack Yeats. The entire Yeats family were artists- John Yeats was a painter, and his son William Butler was an amateur painter as well as one of Ireland's most celebrated poets and playwrights. Jack was William Butler's brother and also a painter. Specifically, I am exploring the possible links between Jack's fascination with the circus (he painted about 700 scenes of it) and William's fascination with the occult.
13 September 2007
Photos
In the interest of saving time, I've posted all of my photos on Facebook, (partly because I can't figure out how to put them on here) but you can still see them through the links below. Let me know if they don't work:
First Days in Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral
First Field Trip
First Field Trip Continued
First Days in Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral
First Field Trip
First Field Trip Continued
08 September 2007
I'm Learning Too, I Swear!
The semester Start-Up Programme consists of three classes. Irish history is taught by a group of professors who all have different time period specialties. Dr. Kieron Brady was the lecturer this week, as he is an expert on the Viking invasion and the rise of the Anglo-Normans. He is a very animated lecturer and I think he's hysterical. The only thing is that he dates events by who was king of England at the time, so I never know what time period he's talking about because I know as much about English history as I do about nuclear physics. (Which is absolutely nothing.)
Art history is taught by Jill Connaughton. She's a post-graduate student at Trinity and she's from Michigan. Unfortunately art history is not all that interesting to me, so I find it a little difficult to pay attention to her.
I thought that Irish literature was going to be as difficult to focus on as art history because I can never seem to read things that are assigned to me. I love to read and I do it all the time, but as soon as someone puts a deadline on my finishing a book I lose interest in it for some reason. However, the professor for this class is pretty much my new favorite person. Her name is Dr. Helen Kelly and she is the sweetest and most brilliant woman I have ever met in my life. She has a way of explaining cultural nuances and how they translate into literature that makes me want to read everything James Joyce ever wrote.
This week was pretty much about discovering what it means to be Irish. We studied the roots of the Protestant- Catholic conflict in the Norman invasion and the literature that goes along with it- Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, and Maria Edgeworth. It's amazing how much I can absorb in one week when the material is fascinating!
They scheduled the programme so that we have three hours of lecture Monday through Wednesday, which is all forty of us in a hall scribbling furiously. In the afternoons on Monday and Wednesday we have walking tours of different sites in Dublin. Thursday we have seminar classes, which are small discussion groups based on the lecture material for the week. Fridays are field work days. We travel by coach to some very important landmark on the island and learn all about it.
Yesterday's field work outing was to the Hill of Tara, Trim Castle, Loughcrew Cairns, and the Kells High Crosses.
The Hill of Tara is a pre-historic mystical site that the druid king would use as his home. In Celtic Ireland there were several lower kings, and then there was the king of Tara, who would be the High King of Ireland. The hill is now home to the burial chambers that contained the cremated remains of the High Kings of Ireland, among other things. When Saint Patrick brought Catholicism to Ireland in the fifth century he supposedly preached the gospel from the summit of Tara. There is now a church there that is dedicated to him.
Trim Castle is about 800 years old, and it's been abandoned for 600 years. It's most interesting feature is that it is heavily secure because it was built by the Normans when they were under seige by the Celts. The walls are twelve feet thick and 100 feet high.
Loughcrew Cairns is another burial site. There is a passage tomb in one of the hills. There are three hills total, and they known collectively as the Hag's Stepping Stones. Apparently there is a hag that bounces between them looking for people to kill, and every time she lands on one of the hills she drops a pile of stones. In her spare time she sits on a large rock on the middle hill and smokes her pipe.
Kells is a town about two hours west of Dublin. The old monastery there is where the Book of Kells was created. The cemetery outside the monastery has some of the oldest surviving high crosses on the island. They date from the ninth century.
I will post pictures of this fabulous field work adventure as soon as I can figure out how :)
Art history is taught by Jill Connaughton. She's a post-graduate student at Trinity and she's from Michigan. Unfortunately art history is not all that interesting to me, so I find it a little difficult to pay attention to her.
I thought that Irish literature was going to be as difficult to focus on as art history because I can never seem to read things that are assigned to me. I love to read and I do it all the time, but as soon as someone puts a deadline on my finishing a book I lose interest in it for some reason. However, the professor for this class is pretty much my new favorite person. Her name is Dr. Helen Kelly and she is the sweetest and most brilliant woman I have ever met in my life. She has a way of explaining cultural nuances and how they translate into literature that makes me want to read everything James Joyce ever wrote.
This week was pretty much about discovering what it means to be Irish. We studied the roots of the Protestant- Catholic conflict in the Norman invasion and the literature that goes along with it- Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, and Maria Edgeworth. It's amazing how much I can absorb in one week when the material is fascinating!
They scheduled the programme so that we have three hours of lecture Monday through Wednesday, which is all forty of us in a hall scribbling furiously. In the afternoons on Monday and Wednesday we have walking tours of different sites in Dublin. Thursday we have seminar classes, which are small discussion groups based on the lecture material for the week. Fridays are field work days. We travel by coach to some very important landmark on the island and learn all about it.
Yesterday's field work outing was to the Hill of Tara, Trim Castle, Loughcrew Cairns, and the Kells High Crosses.
The Hill of Tara is a pre-historic mystical site that the druid king would use as his home. In Celtic Ireland there were several lower kings, and then there was the king of Tara, who would be the High King of Ireland. The hill is now home to the burial chambers that contained the cremated remains of the High Kings of Ireland, among other things. When Saint Patrick brought Catholicism to Ireland in the fifth century he supposedly preached the gospel from the summit of Tara. There is now a church there that is dedicated to him.
Trim Castle is about 800 years old, and it's been abandoned for 600 years. It's most interesting feature is that it is heavily secure because it was built by the Normans when they were under seige by the Celts. The walls are twelve feet thick and 100 feet high.
Loughcrew Cairns is another burial site. There is a passage tomb in one of the hills. There are three hills total, and they known collectively as the Hag's Stepping Stones. Apparently there is a hag that bounces between them looking for people to kill, and every time she lands on one of the hills she drops a pile of stones. In her spare time she sits on a large rock on the middle hill and smokes her pipe.
Kells is a town about two hours west of Dublin. The old monastery there is where the Book of Kells was created. The cemetery outside the monastery has some of the oldest surviving high crosses on the island. They date from the ninth century.
I will post pictures of this fabulous field work adventure as soon as I can figure out how :)
Friends and Colleagues
There are forty people in the Semester Start-Up Programme. The Programme is Trinity's way of acclimating international students to Irish life. For the month before classes actually start, we study Irish history, art, and literature. We also take tours around Dublin and the countryside. Ten of the forty are from Holy Cross College, the other thirty are all from different universities.
My one permanent flatmate is Maureen. She's from Indiana and goes to Bryn Mawr College. We're both anthro majors. Sarah is probably my best friend here so far. She spent the past few years living in Westchester, so we bonded over St. Marks Place and New York Dolls. She goes to Drew University. Her parents just moved to Cairo, though, so she'll be moving there after Trinity.
The other SSP kids are all pretty cool. I'm getting to know most of them and they are all really smart. Matt K and I had a fascinating debate the other day about female Catholic priests, and I was actually able to convince him that they will never exist.
There are many great places to go in Dublin. Sarah and I went to a club called Carnival the other night which has a great atmosphere. Temple Bar is the main nightlife area of Dublin, but it's very touristy. Carnival was great because it's all Irish kids. There's also a great classic pub around the corner from our building. Most nights there is life traditional Irish music and really great pub grub.
My one permanent flatmate is Maureen. She's from Indiana and goes to Bryn Mawr College. We're both anthro majors. Sarah is probably my best friend here so far. She spent the past few years living in Westchester, so we bonded over St. Marks Place and New York Dolls. She goes to Drew University. Her parents just moved to Cairo, though, so she'll be moving there after Trinity.
The other SSP kids are all pretty cool. I'm getting to know most of them and they are all really smart. Matt K and I had a fascinating debate the other day about female Catholic priests, and I was actually able to convince him that they will never exist.
There are many great places to go in Dublin. Sarah and I went to a club called Carnival the other night which has a great atmosphere. Temple Bar is the main nightlife area of Dublin, but it's very touristy. Carnival was great because it's all Irish kids. There's also a great classic pub around the corner from our building. Most nights there is life traditional Irish music and really great pub grub.
Finally Settling In
Well, I made it to Dublin fairly easily. Getting set up, however, was a different story. It took 8 days to get my internet access working in my apartment, which is why I have not been able to post although I've been here for eleven days.
The plane ride was good, I had an empty seat next to me so I was very comfy. Upon arrival, however, I discovered that my luggage had decided it wanted to go to Shannon Airport instead. Continental told me that it would most likely be making it's way to Dublin the next day, and that they would deliver it to my hostel. I got a taxi outside the airport and went to the hostel, and by the time I woke up from my nap, my luggage had appeared in the lobby. It was the best of all possible outcomes actually, because I didn't have to carry the two giant suitcases through the city, they just showed up at my door.
I spent the first few days exploring the city. Dublin's really a fairly easy city to navigate. It's small enough that you can locate pretty much anything by it's proximity to the river, Grafton Street, or O'Connell Street. The only thing I did have trouble finding, surprisingly, was a Catholic church. I went to about seven churches that were all Anglican before finally finding Saint Mary's Pro Cathedral. Mass was very interesting, as the only part of the mass that was in English was the Liturgy of the Word. All the prayers and the Liturgy of the Eucharist were in Latin. I was a little lost, but it was also pretty cool to see.
So, I'm fairly well aquainted with my new home. My apartment is cute. I have a single room and the potential for four roommates. Right now I have three, but only one is permanent. The term at Trinity doesn't begin until October 8, so Trinity rents out it's spare dorm rooms to tourists and students who just need a place to stay for a few days until they find an apartment. I have two bathrooms and a kitchen /living room area. The building is divided into eleven houses, each with a separate entrance. Each house has four apartments. There is a nice courtyard outside, in the middle of all the houses.
My dorm is at the east end of the campus, about three blocks south of the river Liffey. It's about a ten minute walk from Grafton Street, the major pedestrian shopping area. It's really a great place to be, and I think now that I'm settled I will be very comfortable here.
The plane ride was good, I had an empty seat next to me so I was very comfy. Upon arrival, however, I discovered that my luggage had decided it wanted to go to Shannon Airport instead. Continental told me that it would most likely be making it's way to Dublin the next day, and that they would deliver it to my hostel. I got a taxi outside the airport and went to the hostel, and by the time I woke up from my nap, my luggage had appeared in the lobby. It was the best of all possible outcomes actually, because I didn't have to carry the two giant suitcases through the city, they just showed up at my door.
I spent the first few days exploring the city. Dublin's really a fairly easy city to navigate. It's small enough that you can locate pretty much anything by it's proximity to the river, Grafton Street, or O'Connell Street. The only thing I did have trouble finding, surprisingly, was a Catholic church. I went to about seven churches that were all Anglican before finally finding Saint Mary's Pro Cathedral. Mass was very interesting, as the only part of the mass that was in English was the Liturgy of the Word. All the prayers and the Liturgy of the Eucharist were in Latin. I was a little lost, but it was also pretty cool to see.
So, I'm fairly well aquainted with my new home. My apartment is cute. I have a single room and the potential for four roommates. Right now I have three, but only one is permanent. The term at Trinity doesn't begin until October 8, so Trinity rents out it's spare dorm rooms to tourists and students who just need a place to stay for a few days until they find an apartment. I have two bathrooms and a kitchen /living room area. The building is divided into eleven houses, each with a separate entrance. Each house has four apartments. There is a nice courtyard outside, in the middle of all the houses.
My dorm is at the east end of the campus, about three blocks south of the river Liffey. It's about a ten minute walk from Grafton Street, the major pedestrian shopping area. It's really a great place to be, and I think now that I'm settled I will be very comfortable here.
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