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...