back in Belfast...

So here I am in Belfast staying at the Elms Housing at Queen's University. We are living in co-ed dorms, and, although I haven't met my neighbors I have a strong feeling I'm living with a bunch of guys. At night the hallways are drenched in cologne and the bathroom usually smells funky and the seat is up. C'mon guys! Help me out here... we also have a kitchen in the middle of the hall which is basically every man for himself.  There is a pot of some sort of soup that hasn't been moved for days, and the floor is continually crusted with stuff. Sorry, this is graphic and gross but I want you guys to be with me wherever I go! (wink wink) I like living here, but it has really made me appreciate Brown Cody and the housing at Southwestern. Like a lot. Anyone who gripes about SU housing should come live with me for a week and then they'll understand.

The rooms are nice, it's just a bed, a sink and a desk. I do have a fantastic view of a little neighborhood outside of the housing development. The main campus is about a ten minute walk down the road, but we're within twenty minute walks of just about everything you need to survive here: a grocery store, the students union, several bars, a liquor store, a few late night fast food places, and a bookstore. Oh, and a library for the occasional study... 

I spent most of yesterday in the Queen's main library trying to research for my project. We can't actually take books out since we have "temporary passes" which is going to mean A LOT of time in the good 'ol library. It has about eleven floors and just amazing amounts of stuff. I kept having to ask for directions because the cataloging system was so different. 

I had a weird morning today, I've been waking up completely stuffed up, I think it's the weather. So I decided to get up and have some cereal and eat some of my new groceries (I've had Maureen cooking for me for the past while so I hope I don't starve). I poor a bowl of cereal and dig in. Since I'm all stopped up it took me about half way through the bowl to realize something was wrong. I look at the milk container and realize I've bought Goat's milk. Which I thought was "skim." GREAT. Then I decide to go check of the fitness facilities at Queen's and realize I'd have to pay the remainder of my budget for a three-week membership. I guess it's just jogging (or not) outside then! Despite the annoying start, I get to meet with my advisor today which should be great. I've been reading his research and it's really good stuff! 

Okay, this was kind of a venting post, mostly aimed at my family and close friends who will (hopefully) sympathize with my unfortunate neighbors and goat milk morning. I MISS YOU ALL. I love you guys too. Roves :)

10th Anniversary of The Good Friday Agreement

On Thursday of last week, our politics professor Michael Anderson, who is  a PhD candidate at University of the City of Dublin (UCD) managed to get the fifteen of us into a forum called "From Conflict to Consensus: The Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement." (here's a link to the program-  http://www.ucd.ie/spire/text%20files/ibis_conference.pdf)  Everyone in the crowd was an academic of some sort, and I chatted with a man next to me that was from the Dutch Embassy.  The forum lasted all day, and the shining moment was when the recently resigned Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, Bertie Ahern spoke! He arrived with an entourage of media, assistants, and surprisingly, very few body guards.  He recent resignation was somewhat anticipated by the public.  My host mom and I were discussing his time in office and she said, "He's done a lot for the peace keeping, but he just needs to go before we find something else in his bank account!" He recently failed to claim several thousands of Sterling so the already skeptical public was not surprised to see him go.  Regardless of his personal life, Ahern gave a fantastic and professional speech about the Good Friday Agreement and what to view for the future.  Several other distinguished people lectured, one woman who is the author of one of our staple textbooks, and also the Secretary of State of Northern Ireland.  The entire experience was just absolutely amazing. The day got better when that night my friend Summer and I realized we made it on the late night news with some footage of Bertie! (That's what happens when you sit in the second row...) Another guy in our group made it into the papers the following day.  The most wonderful part of the forum was that I wasn't completely lost during the lectures. As in, I've learned enough here to understand what people are talking about concerning the peace process, the Conflict, etc. I still don't understand all of the Irish humor though. Anyway, we finished up this week with our ISP proposals and lots of papers.  I'm traveling to Belfast for three weeks to research sexual education in Northern Ireland.  Bill Rolston, professor of Sociology at the University of Ulster has agreed to be my advisor over the next three weeks.  He's done a lot of research on the political murals in Northern, but has also published research on sexual attitudes and behaviors of young people in Northern Ireland.  He's a great resource and I'm so thankful to have gotten in contact with him.  As for the pictures below of our last weekend, the rather large man in the picture with me is named Collie. He's a friend of some of our Dublin friends, and when we first met, I couldn't understand him so I asked him to spell his name. He said, "Oh, okay. You spell it L-E-G-E-N-D." So from then on we've referred to him as "The Legend!" HAHA!  

LAST WEEKEND IN DUBLIN

Here is a picture of me with my future "Euro" soccer children. Kids are so excited to meet Americans, and someone yelled, "She models!" So they wanted to get their picture with a model too. Kids, regardless of what area of Ireland we're in, want to know about the election in the States.  People in general are very interested in American politics, probably more so than we are. Whereas in the States a political topic might not come up in conversation for a while, but here, people are not shy about making their first question, "Are yous for Obama or Hillary?" 

This was the night of Mary's 21st birthday party in Dublin! We decided to celebrate before we headed to Northern Ireland for three weeks. Summer is to my left, who lives across the street from me in Dublin, and Moira is on my right.  Moira lives about ten minutes away from me. We three have gotten really close! This night was absolutely amazing! We got most of the girls in the program to come out for a night/debauchery on the town in Dublin. 

This is a picture of Oisin ("Ah- she")and Oran "Or-in"), two of the children that Allie and I stayed with in Derry. Bill Martin, the assistant harbor master in Derry, and his wife Christine were wonderful hosts! We had a great time hanging out with their family for a week. Their lives are CRAZY compared to me and Maureen in Dublin. Oisin was kind of a little devil child though. He was constantly getting into the "American girl's" stuff. As you can tell, he's just about the cutest boy I've ever seen so it didn't even matter! Every morning Christine would pile us in her tiny car with all the kids and we'd drop each of them off at school. They also had a dog named Jock, a bearded collie, who looked basically like a fluffy brown carpet. I loved staying with this family but it really made me miss my family, my friends, and just home in general. I love you all. 

Allie and I at the northern most point in Ireland- Malin Head. It was so gorgeous and I tried to spell "Hey Mom and Dad" with white rocks on the ground but I got really lazy and only got an "H" done. 

About three weeks ago, on our second day crossing the border into Northern Ireland we took a hike up Slieve Gullion, a mountain known for a tale about a magical lake the sits up top.  We began our hike with sunshine and a freezing wind. Our guide, Bernard O’Hanlon (local guide, musician, pub owner) had to have been in his late 60s. This goes to show that when it comes to age, younger isn’t always better. This super athlete of a guide practically sprinted up the mountain as the fifteen of us gasped our way to the top.  After finally reaching the top, it began to rain. (I type that like I'm surprised it rains in Ireland) We followed Bernard as best we could, but before we knew it, the group had broken into three strands: the equally motivated and super athletic over achievers that kept up with Bernard, the middle of the road fast walkers who weren’t willing to exert themselves too much (I’m in this category), and the “slightly oblivious to time restrictions” sight-seers that wanted to stop and take pictures. This entire small mountain was very deceiving, because although it wasn’t raining the entire time, the ground was muddy, very wet, covered in deceptive vegetation, and snow.  Luckily, I was wearing an amazing pair of Northface hiking boots that were completely waterproof. I looked ridiculous but I was the only one who managed to keep my feet dry. After sloshing through puddles for a couple of hours, we realized that we’d lost our guide, and another man that came with us on the walk ran forward to try and catch Bernard and the overachievers so that we could go down the mountain directly to meet our bus. We finally get the group back together only to find that one of the overachievers had sprained her ankle trying to keep up with Bernard. She had to be piggy-backed down the mountain by the smallest, yet most athletic girl, Summer. The entire scenario was doubly hilarious when we all got back on the bus and realized that we’d be walking coating our entire bodies in sheep poo while climbing up the mountain. Reeking of feces, muddy, wet, and cold, we returned to our accommodations for lunch, hot tea, and complaining.  Looking back, I really enjoyed the “hell hike” as we call it.  The views from Slieve Guillion are some of the most beautiful in all of Ireland, and the pristine lake that sits atop completely took me by surprise.  I managed to snap my picture in front of the lake for posterity.  “Look Mom and Dad! I survived Slieve Guillion!” Also, the other picture is of me and Bernard. He is ALL THAT IS MAN.

Slieve Gullion

Hello Everyone! I've successfully managed to avoid blogging for over a month. I'm going to blame that on inconsistent internet access instead of laziness. We've just spent the past three weeks in Northern Ireland. After getting back Good Friday, I decided to spend my extended Easter weekend relaxing in Dublin.  My host mother Maureen spent two weeks in Portugal on a "Walking Holiday." So, while she spent two weeks exercising, I was traipsing about the North. My friend Summer, who goes to Washington and Lee in Virginia, suggested we tour the Guinness Factory in Dublin. FANTASTIC IDEA! However, I have a few comments for those that plan on doing the tour if they ever come to Ireland. 

1) Buy your tickets online, unless you want to wait in line outside the building for an hour and a half.

2) Don't go on a Saturday. Oh, and if at all possible, don't go on Easter Weekend. 

3) Bring your student id, you can get in cheaper.

4) Don't eat anything before you go. There is a pint of Guinness waiting for you "for free" (included in the ticket price of 10 euro) when you reach the seventh floor of the factory.

5) Don't expect to meet any Irish people while you're there. This is major tourist destination. 

6) Eat the sample of roasted barley! It tastes good!

7) Expect to spend at least 2 hours on the self-guided tour. There is a lot to see.

Okay, I don't want to give everything away, but at the end of the tour, there is a bar on the top of the building that overlooks all of Dublin. The sun was shining and we were able to drink our pints and look out across the Dublin mountains.  And yes, I drank the ENTIRE PINT ALL BY MYSELF.

For Easter Sunday Maureen's family came over and we had a wonderful dinner of ham, turkey, stuffing, peas, brown bread, gravy, and roasted peppers. It was so great being with a family on Easter weekend, especially Maureen's family, who are some of the nicest people I've ever met. We did an "adult egg hunt" where we searched Maureen's garden for Lindt chocolate eggs. It was great. That night myself, Summer, and another friend Allie took a taxi to a small pub called the Blue Light in the Dublin Mountains. Overlooking the city this pub is literally in the middle of nowhere. We met some of our Irish friends there and spent the entire night in the dark lighting singing songs and drinking pints of cider.  We taught them an American drinking game and they loved it. There were men and women singing and playing instruments, and two groups of men were yelling soccer chants against each other. Manchester versus Liverpool I think? I'm not really sure. Anyway, it rocked. Anyway, I'm going to compose several posts to tell you all about Northern Ireland, because a lot of stuff happened, and I can't do it justice quite yet. I love you all and miss you guys more than anything.

STAY TUNED. 

My First Entry...

hello everyone.

today will be my first entry for my SIT study abroad semester in ireland. right now i'm in the ireland youth network office in dublin, where are classes are held. each morning, i hop on the bus from my homestay in a suburb of dublin for an hour-long bus ride. i usually sit on the second level of the double decker buses, solely because the view is amazing. even though many people here feel that public transportation is slow and inefficient, i feel like this is a nice escape from having to drive everywhere. at least i can sit in traffic with other people to talk to. plus, there is no equivalent to I-35, which is a blessing beyond belief.

my homestay mother is an elderly mother of four named maureen o'brien (i know, can the name get any more irish or what). her children are grown with kids of their own, so maureen is living a nice semi-retired lifestyle with her cat babet, who is a "muggle" (could have been "moggle," i'm not sure) or a cross-breed. maureen used to be a seamstress, but now she enjoys her walking clubs, irish dancing groups, and "dropping in" on neighbors. she's absolutely great, is about half my size, and is a mean chef. speaking of food...

it's true. people eat a lot of potatoes here. however, the food isn't nearly as bland as everyone had warned me about. maureen makes wonderful traditional dishes, and on the weekends she cooks me a hot irish breakfast (bacon, eggs, sausage, tomatoes, and pudding). pudding comes black and white, is sliced about an inch thick, and is packaged like sausage. from what i understand, pudding has bits of rice and other grains, but is primarily notorious for the pig blood ingredient... which gives black pudding a really, well, black color. i ate it unknowingly and thought it was vegetarian sausage (ironic?). anyway, i'm hooked on the stuff which bothers me a little bit.

we've been here for almost four weeks, but we've managed to move around the country. the past five days were did a rural stay in county mayo, located on the southwest coast of ireland. literally, our hostel was situated directly on the atlantic ocean. the town closest to our hostel, rossport, is currently working aganist the construction of a gas pipeline that will be bringing high pressured raw gas very close to the community. shell, the company in the forefront, will be exporting the gas primarily to norway, leaving the rossport citizens with a poluted landscape and watersystem. we spent our time talking with rossport farmers and locals, chatting with activists who live at a solidarity camp, and visiting the shell worksites. here is a link for more information: http://www.corribsos.com/ i left rossport deeply disturbed. after taking an amazing hike along the cliffs lining the atlantic ocean, i realized that i'd never seen such pristine land in my entire life.

we have another week in dublin attending classes, and then we head to northern ireland for three weeks. right now we are in the process of formulating our independent study project topics, something that i'm having trouble with. after capstone, i find it hard to think about completing an entire research project in ONE MONTH. maybe that's just the worrier in me, because no one else seems to be bothered by it. basically, anytime someone gets freaked out about the impending ISP, we go to a pub and suddenly rainbows and butterflies appear.

the pub life here is amazing! each pub is completely different and unique. there is one area of dublin, temple bar, that is a bit more touristy and club-like. i've only been a couple of times and i relate it to a more compact 6th street. maureen warned me of temple bar and the "stag parties" (bachelor parties). she, along with many other people, feel that temple bar is just way too crazy and loud for their taste. i agree, and have more fun hanging out at our neighborhood pub instead.

the drinks here are great- i've managed to gulp down half a pint of guinness (that's all i could manage), but i've become a particular fan of bulmer's, a cider that kind of sweet and isn't as dense as beer. i've also tried a "fat frog" which is a combination of three different malt beverages that produce a neon green color (it's incredibly sugary tasting). for 10 euro you can get two pints of fat frog. i learned about this drink from a couple of police men, or garda, at a brazilian bar in dublin (i wasn't being arrested, it was their night off).

i met a group of women from houston at a pub in a town called westport a few nights ago. by the end of our five minute conversation we were all hugging each other. i love texas people. hearing their "yalls" made me miss home a little. as for the irish accent...it's just as hard as another language, even though it's english. were dabbling a bit in gaelic, or irish, but not as much as i hoped. maureen's daughter edel has raised her two kids with irish as their first language. it's amazing to hear them flip back and forth between the two languages when they come to visit maureen.

the weather is beautiful! it's pretty cold, but we've only had a few days of rainy weather. mostly the sun shines, but the wind off the ocean can get pretty fierce. i've gotten used to wearing layers upon layers. also, i carry an umbrella with me wherever i go. just in case. anyway, i think i've written enough for today, but i'll keep you posted on the rest of my semester! also, forgive the bad grammer/spelling. this is a blog people...