(no subject)
27 Aug 2006
Hello all! Greetings from Ireland. I must admit, I’m getting tired of laying out step by step descriptions of my activities, as it just takes forever. To those of you who enjoy Dickens-esque descriptions of not very interesting events (and I can’t imagine there are many of you), I apologize. So starting with Friday night, we’re zooming through to today.
Ok, here goes. Friday, you’ll recall I was invited to go to the Thirsty Scholar with some girls living in my apartment building. I met them downstairs at nine, Megan and Samm who I’ve already described as well as two girls from directly across the hall, one from upstairs and one from all the way across town next to campus.
Is my describing people weird? I’m just trying to give you a basic picture of what they look like. I’m not studying them or anything creepy like that. Anyway, across the hall we have Bi Shan who as you might expect is of Asian descent, but has definite traces of a New York accent. She’s from Brooklyn actually, a bit shorter than me with glasses. She and her flatmate Cassie both go to a tiny little school with 500 kids called Wells in mid/upstate New York. Cassie is...well, she’s a tad immature to be perfectly honest. I definitely get a sheltered vibe from her. She wears an oversized jean jacket, has never had a drink before, and is anxiously awaiting the release of that new penguin pixar-style movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that’s a bad thing, or anything, just trying to give you an idea. The girl who lives above me, Erin, also goes to Wells. She’s short with rather squinty eyes, and she’s pretty cynical and sarcastic. Quite cool. Jessica is the last of them, she lives over in Castlewight Apartments right next to the school, and I feel bad because this was a bit of a trek for her. She’s the one who looks amazingly like a mini-Dr. Zipf and I kept waiting for her to start commenting on the various architectural structures we passed.
Anywho, the seven of us made our way to the Thirsty Scholar. Three of them got beers, Erin got Jack Daniels and ginger ale (blech!), Cassie & I got icky hard cider, and Bi Shan labeled herself the designated walker with a plain Coke. We all sat at one of those heavy old wooden tables you see in movies and just hung out and talked about old Nickelodeon shows, Oregon Trail, our various schools and lots of other junk for an hour or two. The pub wasn’t really very lively, I’m told the nightlife doesn’t pick up until late September when the 16,000 UCC students arrive. After the Thirsty Scholar Cassie & Bi Shan (who is in my archaeology class) headed home. Jessica was feeling tired too, so Samm, Megan, Erin & I walked her home.
The four of us then went to the Franciscan Well, which is the pub DIRECTLY across the river. I mean, my wind faces the pub exactly. I actually got carded on the way in, because I guess they’re trying hard to crack down on drinking-age laws or some such. But it’s legal to drink beer and wine and stuff at 18, so it was no problem once I’d found that stupid ID. At the Franciscan Well, I tried a glass of "Blarney Blond" a local beer that was just gross. Didn’t drink very much, so there’s 3 euro down the drain. But Megan got a Swedish Pear Cider that was really quite yummy, so I’ll get that next time we go out.
The Franciscan Well was much more crowded than the Thirsty Scholar so we were all kind of standing crammed up against a barrel/table. But everyone there was American. Well, maybe not everyone, but at least 85%. And since you all seem to want me to bring you back boys, I’m sorry but the ones found here were of the typical asshole American variety. You could just see how they were thinking they were so cool with their Guiness’s starring at the slutty American girls who were clearly there trolling for boys with accents. Seriously, boys suck.
Anyway, they were geniusly making hamburgers at the Franciscan Well because they know that drunk people want food. We weren’t actually intoxicated at all, but they still smelled super good. They were wicked expensive though, so Megan and Samm offered to have Erin and I back to there apartment where they proceeded to make hamburgers!
Twas quite a lovely evening, even if I did wake up really late on Saturday. Saturday I met up with Vanessa, Casey (not to be confused with Cassie), Anastasia and Carolin. We did some touristy sightseeing things. We ate lunch for 5 euro each at a pub, and I had some delicious soup & brown bread. Then we checked out the art gallery, and a famous church. We went to another church, but they were having a wedding, so we didn’t get to see the inside. I parted ways with them around 3 to head back the apartment and grab a snack before seeing a movie at 4 with Megan, Samm and Erin.
We saw John Tucker Must Die, because they wanted to, and it was there idea. It wasn’t that bad. Your typical entertaining teen comedy. The best part in the whole movie though, is when the main character walks into some random room and there’s a guy belting out "I Want you to Want Me" wearing these big headphones, and from behind he seriously looks just like Heath Ledger’s character in Ten Things I Hate About You. It was great.
After the movie, and Sunday I really didn’t do too much. Sunday is Sunday, and in super Catholic/Christian Ireland that means that nearly everything is closed. I walked around town a bit and bought a pad of paper, a pen, and TWO BARS OF MILKA!!! I have found it! And eaten nearly an entire bar in just over 24 hours. Whoopsy.
I wrote a couple of you letters but I haven’t been able to "post them" as the Irish say. I know where the post office is, but it’s a tiny bit of a hike and I’m lazy. Sorry. I’ll get them out this week, and postcards for everyone too, I promise. In the meantime, you can always WRITE ME! I wouldn’t mind. :P
Ok, I’m going to go now. I’ll update on today’s archaeology class and the sheer attractiveness of my teacher at a later date, I promise. :D
Hey guys, just finishing up Friday night, and a little bit of saturday and sunday which weren't terribly eventful and are therefore quite short. Next up: Archaeology class!