It's A Rainy Day In Dublin

I'm quite comfortable living here, I've decided.

It's been doing Irish-style raining all day, and I didn't even bother with the umbrella. I've learned that there is no point. My hair will get wet no matter what. But it doesn't bother me anymore. It's fantastic. And I've begun to notice that I'm speaking like an Irish person more and more. It's no longer weird to me to hear myself say "half three" or "I'm grand, thanks". I apologise in advance for being really annoying with it when I get home, because odds are it will stick for a bit. In truth, I really kinda like it :-P

I've been experiencing a lot of this city lately. Last week both of my classes were on reading week, so I had no actual lectures or seminars, though we're expected to catch up on the reading for the course. I'll let you think that that's what I spent the majority of my time doing. (In all fairness, I was pretty much caught up before the week began) Sarah and I saw four different shows on four different night totaling about 20 bands. If I recall correctly, 3 were good. But hey, the other's were fun to watch!

I spent this past Monday preparing my presentations for this week. I had both of my seminar presentations- one Tuesday and one earlier today. The one yesterday was for history- I discussed John Speed, the 16th / 17th century English cartographer who wast the first to chart Ireland. His maps are gorgeous, albeit pretty inaccurate. A lot of them are now framed as art in houses in England.

My presentation today was on gender complementarity in the Andes mountains. I was in a group with four others, and unlike group presentations in the states everyone in this group actually did a fair amount of work. My bit was on the Aymara tribe in Pocobaya and how Spanish colonialism combined with their traditional gender system to create a hybrid of the worst characteristics of each culture.

Monday night Sarah and I went to see a hardcore show at the Voodoo Lounge. There were five bands- the first three were horrible, but the last two were really good. The best part was the "dancing" though. Basically, all the boys stand in a circle and run into each other while flailing their arms and legs- it's pretty funny to watch.

Last night we went to see a play that Sarah had to see for her theatre class. It was Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. Apparently his signature is he writes plays in which all the characters are bored by the monotony of their lives and desperate for change. But in the end, after much upheaval and just when you think things are going to change, everything goes back to exactly the way it was. I guess he's a believer in the "familiar pain over change" school of humanity. The acting was superb though.

Tonight were going to Beta Bar to see a few more bands.

I've also made pretty good friends with the girls from my presentation group in sociology. We went out for lunch after we rehearsed the presentation on Monday and again for coffee after the presentation today. I like that I have lots of Irish friends now, but I'm getting a bit sad that I have to leave in a few weeks- and I don't know when or if I'll ever see them again.

I like that I've been going out and getting to know this city. It's something that I never did enough of in Washington. It feels good to explore and learn new things about the place I'm living.

Halloween, Dublin Style

Surprisingly enough, Halloween was not as big of a deal here as I thought it would be. Halloween started in Ireland, and Irish immigrants brought it to the States in the mid-19th century. Apparently though Halloween was much more of a child and family oriented holiday here until ten or so years ago.

There are special "Halloween Games" that were played in Ireland for which children would get prizes and candy. Trick-or-Treating never caught on here from what I can tell, but now the holiday is basically about people my age getting dressed up in "fancy dress outfits" and going out. Which is exactly what I did!

I dressed up as a flapper with a black cocktail dress, hold-ups, red nails and lips and a cigarette holder. Sarah dressed up as Evan Rachel Wood from Marilyn Manson's Heart-Shaped Glasses music video, with a blond wig and red heart-shaped sunglasses. We went out to Doran's for a bit early in the night. We met up with Chris and Brian and headed up Hartcourt Street to the Village.

Brian's band was supposed to play in a Misfits tribute at the Village, but their lead singer got chicken pox and they had to pull out. We went to see the show anyway and it was pretty good. I don't know any Misfits songs so I was a little lost, but it was a good time nonetheless.

I think there might have been more Halloween festivities over the weekend while I was in Croatia, but it was a fun night anyway!