Gaillimh- Galway: Rutgers Trip to Connemara

This weekend I had the privilege of going with 8 other girls and my resident director (RD) to county Galway. We all met at Galway train station, where it was surprisingly easy to find each other. From there we met our bus driver that would accompany us for the weekend and drove out to Carna, in Connemara, where we stayed through Sunday. The nine of us split into two groups for the purpose of staying in our B&B's, which were lovely! We were the only guests in our house, and each morning we were provided with a wonderful full breakfast and the most delicious homemade bread! The butter out there is also incredibly good!

The first evening we spent in the bar area of the Carna hotel. There we met several locals who had been invited to join us, and five of their kids who played as a band for us. We had a fantastic (and very unhealthy) buffet dinner and a drink, and we all chatted with each other. After dinner, we listened to some traditional Irish music, played by these kids who were 13-18 years old and really good! We learned about different types of songs, and even got to see two different Irish dance performances by some of the women there. We were taught to sing traditional Irish Sean-nos songs, which are usually about lost or unrequited love. Then we were even taught some dance shuffle steps and some group dances, which was a blast. The people there were so welcoming and friendly, it was certainly something I never could have done on my own! Below's a photo of the band that played for us. They didn't have any music or anything, and just started with a melody and improvized the rest- it was amazing!

Then on Saturday, we had a long hiking day that was equally fun and impressive. We started the day with our lovely breakfast, and then met with a local whose profession is basket-weaving. He taught us about the Sally rods used to make the baskets and the different kinds of baskets, and demonstrated the actually weaving to us by making a basket for us! We were able to try our hand at making a Celtic cross with two sticks and a thin Sally rod. I think the most impressive basket was a huge lobster pot that was completely woven. It was beautiful!

After basket-weaving lessons, we drove to some of the mountains near the coast, I'm not quite sure where. We had a guide with us who told us about the history of the hills and the specific environment. Apparently, thousands of years ago Ireland was nearly all forest, and that when humans began deforesting the island, areas like this with heavy rainfall became more acidic without the trees to absorb it. This, I was told, was then trapped under the ground, which was covered with moss, and turned the soil into peat, creating many peat bogs. Near the base of the mountain we climbed, we were able to stand on a peat bog and see how the ground just shakes underneath you when you bounce on it. We also heard some horror stories about what happens when you jump on a peat bog and it splits. Supposedly bodies are often found from really far back of people who are guessed to have accidentally fallen through the bog. I think it's a great start to some kind of magical underworld tale.

We continued up the mountain, which was very slippery and often very difficult to find footing. I was so glad I had worn my rain boots (I'm sorry, I should call them my wellingtons) because you could hear the sloshing the whole time up, and down, the mountain. About half of the way up we got to see a 4,000 year old tomb that was just resting there on this mountain side. It was simple, but very cool, and as always, it was mystifying that such an old artifact wasn't protected or guarded or anything. Being the art history nerd that I am, I had to get my photo with it though!

We kept walking up to the top of the mountain peak, about an hour and a half in total to get up there, and the sight was stunning. It really might have been the prettiest and most awesome physical landscape I've ever seen. Photos don't even capture the scale of it all. On one side of the hill was the coast, with its fluorescent golden seaweed, and on the other side was a serious of 12 more mountain peaks with a huge, somewhat barren valley between us. All I could think about up there was how much I would love to bring paints up there and just be inspired. It would be rash and insane, but I would definitely move out there it was so gorgeous. 

The way down was even trickier, and I also fell a few times. When we got down all the way, we hopped on the bus for a short ride to the town of Roundstone, which is supposedly the most photographed and painted town. Ironically, I didn't get a chance to take any good photos of the place. We stopped there for a pub lunch, and I think we were all so tired that anything would have tasted wonderful, but the place was great. After we finished, we rode again to another trail, this time up to a castle. The path was beautiful, and thankfully, not wet or slippery. It ran alongside some body of water (in this area it's hard to tell what's a small bay to the sea and what's a river) that looked as black as onyx. The plants were majestic too, and, I admit, it looked a bit like home. We saw a small round castle on the water on an artificial island, as well as the castle on the hill, which was a restaurant that looked charming.

After this finishing hike, we were driven back to our B&B's around about 7 PM or so. We had an hour to ourselves, and then we went for a more formal and private dinner at the hotel again. It was lovely, and the food amazing. I've been continually impressed that every single place I've eaten in this country has at least one vegetarian option. I had fried stuffed mushrooms (amazing!), a rice and veggie stir-fry, and the chocolate gateau (which truly deserved the snooty name-it was fabulous!). I loved the mix of having our own entrees, but family-style side dishes of potatoes and vegetables. It actually felt kind of nice too that it started raining around dinnertime. We had the most perfect crystal-clear calm day for our walking, but a cozy raining evening.

The next morning, since the weather was again very nice for us, we went to the horse farm of one of the men who joined us the first night. He showed us four different Connemara ponies of different ages, all of whom were beautiful creatures. We learned that the Connemara pony, after living in the hilly, slippery surrounding area for centuries, had adapted to become very fast and exceptional jumpers. We were given a show of two of the horses abilities, and one of them jumped over a 5 foot pole! After the demonstration, we were invited inside for coffee, tea, and fresh scones. I think they were meant to just be hospitable and to encourage a chat, but when we all came in, suddenly we were devouring the scones. I think each of us had at least two (they were homemade, warm out of the oven, and unbelievably good!) and a few pieces of fruit, as well as coffee and tea. Our guests must have thought we hadn't eaten in a week! They were so sweet to us, and invited us over to tea if we ever came back. I'd love to be able to take them up on that sometime! The couple even gave us the rest of the scones in a bag to take with us. From there we went to the train station again to return home.

I had a few hours to kill in Galway City before my train, so I did some shopping, and hung out in the main park, and stopped by the cathedral. It was beautiful, and I was struck by how different it was from what I'd seen in Paris last summer. It looked much more Byzantine, like it came out of Eastern Europe. I got bored and it was a little rainy, so I sat and sketched for a while, listening to the organist play.

Well, then I took my train home, and took the bus back to UCD. And that was my weekend. It was absolutely one of the best trips I've ever had, and the people that came with me were great and so positive! We all had the time of our lives, and I can't wait for the UK trip with them in two weeks. If you want more photos, hopefully I'll be able to get them (and the Cork photos. Sorry!) up on Picasa. I've already put them up of Facebook, too. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the vicarious experience of traveling to Connemara! I always enjoy relating my experiences! As for the rest of the week and this weekend, tonight (after midnight) is my roommates 21st birthday, so we'll be up partying, and then Capoeira class again tomorrow! This weekend I'm going to treat Dublin City like a tourist, and go around to the museums and everything, so I can really get to know the city well. I still have to plan it out. Anyone have suggestions for what I should do?

Fresher's Week & Happy Guinness Day!

This is now my second week of classes and the Drop/Add period is almost over. It's also what's known as Fresher's Week, meaning the week when we all sign up for clubs and sports. Mostly this seems the same as home, but what's really different that all the Americans can't get past is that you have to pay extra to do anything. They have a dinner event for International students- you have to pay 5 euros to get in. Clubs- you have to pay 2 euros to join to get the opportunity to buy tickets for later events. Want to join a sport? You have to pay 10 or 20 euros to join, and then if the team travels or anything, you have to pay your way on that too. The campus gym- a special before October, 89 euros for 3 months. I guess its a good system for those who don't want to do anything on campus, but I think all us international students feel broke just hanging around on campus! It's definitely a cultural difference, because what I hear from my Irish roommates (and this one friend who sort of lives here all the time, but it's ok because she's very nice and a bit exotic to us Americans) is that they only pay a fee of a few hundred euros for admission when they get in, and don't have any ridiculous tuition most of the time. Can you imagine?

Well, I know what you're wondering. What clubs did I join? Well, I only had 6 euros so I only joined three clubs, haha. I joined the International Student Club, the English and Literary Society, and the campus LGBT Club. I'm hoping to join the Capoeira sports club. I'm guessing they don't have traveling matches? UCD has some of the most ridiculous and awesome sports clubs I've ever seen at a school. There's the normal team sports, including Gaelic football, Hurling, and Rubgy (both men's and women's). And then there's the water sports, like windsurfing, para-sailing, sailing- as if it weren't cold enough here! Actually, if the meets weren't on weekends, I'd totally join the sailing club! Then we have the completely strange: climbing and potholing, riflery, archery, trampolining, etc. They all seem awesome to try, I'm sorry I don't have more time here to give to doing non-schoolwork stuff, haha. I'm excited to try Capoeira again. Just before I started high school I traveled to Costa Rica with a teacher who introduced me to the sport, and I was hooked from then on! I even brought my white pants- the usual requisite uniform. In case anyone hasn't heard about Capoeira, it is a sport that is also a dance. It comes from Brazil, supposed created by slaves who weren't allowed to fight, so they worked out all their feuds by participating in this martial arts, contact, dance set to drums and other rhythmic instruments. Anyways, I'm excited to see it growing in popularity and that I may get to practice it every week!

Finally, the last bit of news I have is that this weekend I will be traveling to Cork. I have my hostel and my train ticket booked, and I continue to plan out my 3 days there. I am certainly planning to get to Blarney to kiss the Blarney stone, and I've read up on a lot of fun things to see in Cork City. If anyone has suggestions, I'm always looking for new things to try! I will be stopping in City Center tomorrow to buy myself a cheap camera (still unresolved technical issues with my phone...) and then I will be sure to log my weekend for you all.

Just a random bit of trivia about the goings-on here in Dublin- tomorrow is Arthur Guinness day! He is a very important in the cultural history of Dublin, and tomorrow will be celebrated properly by, of course, going out and drinking way too much Guinness. I don't know if they celebrate in Cork, but I may stop into a pub in solidarity. You are welcome to follow my example :)

That's all for tonight! I have to get up a little early tomorrow for my gym orientation so I can finally have a set place to work out! I'm so thankful I'm in the one dorm with a free gym! And it's next to the laundry- two birds with one stone. Goodnight everyone! Happy Arthur Guinness day tomorrow!

Good Craic! Rugby World Cup & Chinese

This is a clip of one of the intense moments of the rugby game this morning. Just as Australia was about to score, Ireland stole the ball and made it almost all the way to the other side of the field. All with 2 minutes left in the game! You can be sure that everyone watching was on their feet and biting their nails, no matter who they were rooting for.


This morning, after a good night out with the roomies last night and not getting to sleep until much too late, I woke up for the 9:30 AM Rugby World Cup game between Ireland and Australia. UCD opened up the lounge for International students early so that we could watch it on the huge screen made of 12 monitors. I met my friend Christina there, and we were certainly not the only ones. There was a group of about 7 or 8 who were Australians, and donned not only colors and flags, but stickers on their cheeks. There were also some of the International student coordinators there, who were decked out in green. And we had a number of people wander in and out throughout the game. It was really very fun!

The only thing that I was surprised about was how subdued everyone was. I'm not sure if it's an Irish thing or the fact that it was 9:30 on a Saturday morning on a college campus, but everyone was very relaxed and calm and extremely cordial. Despite the warnings, there was very little "slagging" (rousing and teasing one another). I had a great time, and am continuing to learn the nuances of the game of rugby. I don't know American sports very well, but I will try with this one.

Here's a photo of the fan gear sported this morning and one of my friend Christina (front bottom right) and all the Irish-cheering devotees behind us. For a small lounge, there were quite a lot of people. Also, most students seem to go home on weekends, so this was an impressive and dedicated crowd.

And then tonight, I made my first call on my Irish cell phone. To whom? To the Chinese food place that was handing out menus last week, of course. I decided to eat in, but didn't feel like cooking, so I ordered Chinese- which, happily, they will deliver to the outside of the dorm building I live in! I had a nice bonding session with one of my roomies over dinner, and had a nice relaxing evening. I really have to check tipping standards here again, because the delivery man that I gave a few extra euros to seemed very genuinely surprised at receiving a tip.The food was pretty good, which sort of surprised me. I haven't exactly seen a lot of diversity so far here...

Anyway, tomorrow I plan on making a video tour of my building and some of UCD campus, so make sure to look out for it! Forgive me if I get a little bit behind on posting a link on Facebook. The site seems to have trouble letting me post or share most anything. Hopefully this will be resolved shortly! As always, thanks for reading!

Ranganna- Classes

Good evening all! After being here for more than a week, I finally had my first day of classes. I had 3 classes on today: Introduction to Folklore at 11, Beginning Irish at 1, and Early Irish Hero Tales at 2. Each class is only 50 minutes. Coming from a university that has classes that are either an hour and twenty minutes or else three hours, 50 minutes felt like cheating. All of the my classes seem very exciting. I generally sign up for a class more for the subject than the professor, so I spent less time trying to like the professors today and more time oohing and aahing over the reading list. I'm going to have to buy a whole other suitcase to ship my textbooks home! The class sizes have been pretty small compared to what I'm used- my first class, held in a stepped theatre and certain my largest class, only had about 50 or 60 kids in attendance. My smallest class so far, Beginning Irish, had only about 15. At home, I'm used to my small classes being about 40 and my large classes having around 150 students or so. Tomorrow I have one new class, called Ireland Uncovered, about the history of Ireland. I also have a fifth class, Discovering Ireland, but that's a field-trip-only class, in which I am only required to go on 3 all-day field trips and write a journal during the course of the semester. 


Tomorrow I also can't wait to stop by the bookstore on campus, and pick up my new goodies! One professor reassured us that if we do a little bit of the reading often, then it wouldn't be too much to handle. I was sitting in class thinking, can I read the whole book tonight please? We're not talking about a textbook here. It's a 9th or 10th century story called Táin Bó Cúailnge about a bull that gets run out of the Cooley peninsula area in Ireland. I also still have some last, less pressing shopping to do that might have to wait until Thursday, when my classes finish at noon. Like for instance, I still have to get a frying pan and bath mat and Band-Aids and sandwich bags. I can't believe all the little things you never think about until you don't have them when you need them. Other than the occasional item, I am beginning to feel sort of at home here. My desk is too messy, I don't make my bed, I wander into my kitchen to look for the food I want to magically appear when I'm bored, and I've now hopped a fence to get out of my dorm.

Apparently at this university, in an effort to discourage students from staying out too late or bringing a lot of people home with them at late hours, UCD has certain times when the gates to the dorms are shut and locked. While our keycards work shortly after the gate is closed, most of the night and early morning there is no way to get in or out of the dorm without hopping the fence. Which, I've found out, is quite common. I like to think of it as the school unofficial sobriety test- if you can't make it over the fence, you have to go walk it off until you can manage. This Monday was something called "Black Monday," the first day of classes. The day is used as a kind of "pre-game" for the semester, and from early afternoon on, there was a line outside of the bar to get in. Everyone was out drinking and having some "craic" (pronounced like crack, and an Irish term for good fun) and, supposedly, not going to class. I'm hoping to have a bit of craic myself this weekend, and finally see the inside of a proper Irish pub after dinner. Thankfully, my weekend starts on Thursday :)

I realized I forgot to post about my walk this weekend outside campus. Well, it was absolutely beautiful! I had great weather, as it turned out, though the wind continues to amaze me. I stumbled across a public park that was so lush and green, and because it was Saturday, so lively, I just loved it! I think it might become my personal private spot to go to relax or clear my head. I did a quick sketch from a bench I stopped to sit on for a minute, and view was amazing. I was up on some hill, looking down to some town (no idea of the names of anything yet). I also took a photo of the walking path I followed at the top of the hill. Sorry if the photos are small- all I have is my American phone to use as a camera!

Well, I think that's about it for now! I have told you most of what's been going on here for the last few days. I will be sure to report back on the new class I haven't had yet, and what I'm planning on doing this weekend. Oh, I almost forgot! I went to a great presentation by Andy Steves (Rick Steves' son) on student travel, and he got me all excited again to travel as much as possible! So I will have to make some plans quickly and let you know. Thanks for reading, and as always, I love getting comments! Write you later!