Shameless Promotion

I’m done! The end! No more classes at UCC for me (hush yourselves Smart Alecs, I’ve been to more then one class!)…Handed in my last paper today and went to my very last class. Next week is study week, and then we have finals all through the month of May. I honestly can’t believe it’s almost May, that seems crazy. I guess this is the part of the “study abroad experience” that the brochures called “adaptation”. It’s when we all stop thinking this place is so weird and finally start to settle in and really live life in a different country. When we first landed on the Emerald Isle we couldn’t stop talking about what we were going to do when we got home, all the things we missed, all of the places we wanted to go out to eat, all of the people we couldn’t wait to see. We couldn’t shut up about how the cars were on the wrong side of the road (leading to many near misses while crossing streets), the food was funny (what do you mean you don’t have mac and cheese here?!), the professors were weird (did he really just tell us to take a 15 minute tea break?!). Heck I couldn’t figure out how to send text messages on my new phone for the first 3 weeks or so, and even when I figured it out it still felt funny- where were all the friends in my phonebook, I didn’t know ANYONE in Ireland! Ah!
But the thing is…nothing feels too terribly weird or foreign or bewildering anymore. I know my way around the UCC campus as well as I know my way around the U of I campus. I do a lot of the same stuff I do at home- homework in the library, going to movies and the mall with my friends, last week we attempted home made pizza in the flat. Some things are different, weekends for one. No Hawkeye football here. Last weekend we took the bus over to Limerick for the GAA Hurling finals. Had to be loud and proud in support of the GALWAY TRIBESMEN! I know I know, I'm living in Cork, but I was adopted in Galway, so my hurling loyalties lie now and forever with the Tribesmen. (If you have no idea what Hurling is as I suspect at least 95% of the people reading this don't, youtube it and prepare to be entertained). Anyway, other weekend stuff...we go to a lot of concerts, something I almost never do at home- Cork just has a really great free music scene if you know where to look. Class is a lot different. No assigned readings really, we’re meant to go to the library, and actually do research. What do you mean you’re not going to spoon feed us information?? Isn’t that what college is for?! It’s a different system that’s for sure, but I like it. Some weird twisted part of my brain likes hanging out in the library doing research finding the answer for myself instead of having a professor tell me what to think. I know…now that that comment is on the world wide web I’ll never live it down. I’m off to find a rock to hide under until the laughing stops.
But before I head off to find my rock to hide under, I feel I should address another point that concerns me greatly, I’ve been accused of using this web address to take the piss (or as we Yanks would say, “make fun”) of anyone and everyone I’ve come across in these last few months. So, to make up for my sometimes brutal sarcasm- some shameless promotion of a few of the people I’ve met here who have made me laugh, gotten me to dance, and are looking for as much exposure as they can get .
First up- Gary O’Toole. We met him on the bus to Limerick, this guy kept us entertained for two straight hours with his antics. He claims to be an actor, but having seen his film debut we’ll leave that to you to decide.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=890HXzyQT6A
Second- The Marvels. A Cork staple. I truly believe it is impossible to watch their act without jumping up to dance at some point. And you have to respect any guy with the guts to go out in public wearing that hat.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u-t-CHOSGQY

Language barrier

Hola! (That pretty much expends my knowledge of the Spanish language.)

One of the fun parts of study abroad is having other friends studying in far off places. Last weekend I got to jet off to Spain to see what my buddy Mick has been up to all year. I was greeted by a Spanish band as soon as I got off the Metro. Mick said it was “all for me” to welcome me to Spain. I’m going to venture a guess he’s full of sh*t. But, either way, pretty cool. Thursday night we went to a really small tappas place. It was literally shove your way through, stranding room only crowded, but the food was fantastic and it was kind of fun to be right in the middle of so many Spanish kids my age. I woke up Friday morning and was shocked to see…no one. Madrid seemed to have emptied out overnight. I gave my self the Sol walking tour and found coffee. I also found yet another country where my name produces some problems. In Ireland people tend to think it’s spelled Elisa. In Spain they think it’s Alice. All of these new aliases…what fun. I started walking back to the hostel and someone stopped me to ask for directions, in Spanish! I was so happy about being confused for someone who might speak Spanish that it took me a few seconds to realize there was no way I could break out enough Spanish to help the poor girl. I even knew how to get to the metro stop she was asking about! Sad! I headed back to the hostel and shocked Mick with my ability to order coffee “how did you do that?!” (I’m resourceful!)
So anyway, apparently Spain doesn’t really wake up until 11 or 12. Which is why I felt like no one was out and about. I mastered Madrid underground…via Madrid’s ridiculously extensive metro system. We went the Prado, which is a very very cool art museum. The royal palace (King of Spain gets a pretty sweet set up, let me tell ya). And wandered Madrid above ground. Found the US embassy, Real Madrid stadium, and the national library! (Was that a dead give away that I’m a nerdy English major??)
Saturday we went to Segovia. A very small, very cool Spanish town about an hour outside Madrid. There’s an amazing Roman aquaduct, an absolutely beautiful cathedral, and the castle that Disney land based Snow White’s castle off of. You can climb all the way up to the top and it looks out over the whole city of Segovia and the mountains. That’s right, mountains, real, snow capped mountains. I missed the majority of winter in Iowa, so seeing snow, even from far away, was actually kind of exciting.
Sunday was an adventure all in itself. Mick’s brother in law is from Madrid, so his parents still live there. I got to see the more “residential” part of Madrid which was neat, there’s a really pretty neighborhood right in the middle of the city. They made lunch for us, having any sort of home cooked food when you’re studying abroad is wonderful, but when you get to try something new it’s even better. Only downside was that I don’t speak any Spanish at all, and they don’t speak any English! Funny thing though, is that even though I have no idea what they said, I could still tell that they were amazingly nice. Weird how that works right? Mr. Gutierrez gave us a ride to the airport, with a detour to point out the bull fighting arena. Turns out Spain drives on the right hand side of the road (Ireland and the UK drive on the left). I’m now thoroughly confused about which side of the road cars belong on and which side of the car drivers belong on. American drivers…beware. I’ll be home June 1st and I’m guessing it’ll be awhile before I’ve got the whole side of the road thing figured out again.

Cead Mile Failte Connemara

Greetings from the sticks. (Name that Julia Roberts movie). I’m currently camped out in the seaside village of Connemara, Ireland spending the first two weeks of my spring break driving around the Irish countryside, hiking, climbing mountains, and playing a lot of card games. No internet out here you see, and as my cell phone only works to call Ireland, I’m pretty much cut off for the week (if you’ve emailed, don’t feel bad, I’m not ignoring you). So I’m getting lots of fresh air, hanging out on the beach, and tomorrow morning I have every intention of getting up at the crack of dawn to watch the sun rise over the water. (The Devaney’s told me to go ahead but I better not wake them up). It’s kind of a good feeling though, and living in an Irish house in a small town is an experience. We were back in Connemara’s favorite pub, Hughes, a few days ago. Siobhan started laughing and told us the old men at the bar were talking about us in Irish. Something along the lines of “I know that one, one of the Devaneys- but I don’t know the other two.” Muahaha, the mysterious Americans strike Spidal again. Word must be getting out that we’re here though, I’ve seen more Devaney’s in the last few days then I ever thought possibly existed. Apparently they’re all turning up to meet the guests. I’ve met 7 or 8 aunts and uncles already, but Siobhan’s parents come from families of 11 and 14, so my guess is that I’m no where near done yet.

We spent a day on the Aran Islands. I climbed all the way up to the top of a cliff and the proceeded to cling to the edge of it and look straight down. Beth and I found our dream house on Inis Mor island- we’re hoping we can make some money off of it if we dress it up and tell tourists it’s the birthplace of St. Patrick. Aran is also where I met the lovely horse pictured below...there was an apple in my pocket and he definitely knew it. We spent one morning going through a cave and that afternoon at the cliffs of Mohr. We’ve been to Kylemore Abbey- which is beautiful, and apparently Madonna almost sent her kids to boarding school there. We also went out to Achil, another small Island off the coast of Mayo County. We hung out on one of Europe’s 3 coral beaches for a morning and we also made the long steep climb up Croac Patrick mountain, between driving and hiking we were gone most of the day, but by the time we got to the top we were literally up in the clouds, pretty amazing. I’m sure my legs will forgive me for the climb someday.
Aside from that we’re teaching the Irish all of our silly American card games, we made dinner one night so they could experience American food. I baked chocolate chip cookies today- an interesting adventure considering they don’t have measuring cups in Ireland. I had to guesstimate everything- but it still worked out, Siobhan used “weighing scales” to measure everything while I was baking so that she can replicate my cookies later- so if you want my chocolate chip cookie recipe I can send it to you in ounces- Irish style.
The Devaney’s are teaching us a lot about life in Ireland too. My favorite new story…in this very catholic community they hold mass in a family’s home twice a year. Siobhan’s mom said it’s to bless the house. It turns into a day long thing with tea and socializing, and one of the rooms in the house set up so that the priest can hear confession. Mrs. Devaney said that when it was their turn her brother joked about hiding a tape recorder in the wardrobe so they could finally figure out who stole the goat. No one’s really sure if he actually did it, but maybe that’s a good thing.