The loveliness of Skib
Ok, ok, I suck at updating. I’m aware. I’m sorry. But the ridiculousness of the internet connection plus my busyness make it rather difficult. The thing is that I’m either out doing stuff, or I’m tired from going out and doing stuff and updating just seems like a chore rather than a fun and exciting past time.
The flatmates show up tomorrow, allegedly. Evidently April isn’t going to be here until the 20th, but Josephine said my flatmates ought to be showing up on the 18th and I just heard Bi Shan (the girl across the hall) greeting her new flat mates an hour or so ago. So I guess people will be arriving any time now.
I really really hope they get here tomorrow, because I’m going on a trip with Archaeology from Tuesday until Thursday. So it would suck if they showed up then. Well, I mean it wouldn’t be a horrible tragedy or anything, but I’d like to be here to greet them, and make sure they know that this is my territory. Er, I mean...show them around?
My life has begun to follow a pretty clear pattern. The weekdays all consists of the same basic pattern. 9:30-1pm is class. 1pm- 3/4pm is doing errands downtown, shopping, window shopping and the like. Seems like there are always things I need to do and buy. 4pm - 6pm involves sitting on my duff and watching ridiculous TV. 6/6:30ish is when I begin making myself dinner, usually while watching the ridiculous Australian/New Zealand soap opera called "Home and Away" I generally then eat dinner and then spend the rest of the evening reading, watching TV or wasting time on the internet. I go to bed either fairly early or quite late depending largely on how well the internet is working and who's online.
Pretty dull, really. But a nice sort of dull. Sure, sometimes I wish the girls downstairs would call and invite me out with them. I've had other friends invite me out, but they live waaaaaaay the hell away and I hate making people walk me back here after a pub, but I'm not about to walk myself back. Besides, I usually tell myself that I shouldn't go because I'm going to work on my essay..... but of course that never happens.
Anywho, the weekdays are rather dull and then the weekend EXPLODES with activity. Generally I've been going on little trips around Ireland, the surrounding villages and the like which involves bus rides and a hell of a lot of walking. So by Monday I'm exhausted and the cycle begins anew.
It's a good time though, I'm loving life at the moment.
School starts for real not this coming week but the next one, the 24th or 25th, whatever the day is. I'm anxious to get the timetables (i.e. the schedule of when the classes are) so that I can start planning my schedule in ernest. It's so exciting looking at the billions of different classes and trying to decide which ones I should take. Obviously I'm going to try and take as many in the middle of the week as possible and leave at least Friday free for travel. Very exciting!
I went to a village called Skiberreen today with the girls. The girls being Summer, Vanessa, Casey and Jessica. They're my main group now. Sam and Megan from downstairs have gotten themselves Irish boyfriends already who live way out in the countryside, so they leave Thursday and don't come back til late Sunday these days. (Megan knew the boys before she even came, which is how they moved so fast) And Cassie, Erin and Bi Shan I still see and talk to sometimes but we don't hang out as much anymore. For all that Blaise and I are the same person, we never seem to hang out outside of class which is pretty sad, actually because I think she's a super nice and fun person. Eh, such is life, right?
Well, anyway Jessica, Casey, Vanessa and often Summer are pretty much my group now, and the five of us (plus Casey & Vanessa's new French roomate and her boyfriend) went to Skiberdeen. The bus was pretty expensive, but I had a great day, so I'm not about to complain. Tried a pork burger with mystery sauce, cucumbers which were sort of pickled, cheese and mixed greens. The lively Irish vendor guy gave me a hard time about not wanting mushrooms, but I wouldn't relent. They're icky fungus. Um....it was pretty much the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my life. The whole trip was worth it for that burger alone, seriously.
I showed amazing restraint at the food festival thing and only bought the burger, hot chocolate made w/ real chocolate, a donut type pastry and a jar of homemade creamcheese for the apartment. Compared with what I bought at the little market at the Ceili last week, that's fantastically good, trust me.
There was only so much to see and do at the food festival, so we took to exploring the town. It had some cute shops, but most things were closed as it was Sunday. We'd split up by that point, so it was just Casey, Jessica and I. Casey was our trailblazer, she kept trying to lead us to the ocean until we found the tourist office and I pointed out to her the enlarged map which (unlike her tiny guidbook one) showed that we were in fact, quite inland. She was bitterly disappointed, but instead insisted that we find the river. The girl has some sort of strange addiction to large bodies of water, I'm telling you. That and rolling green hills. She's determined (as am I, actually, only I'm not quite so fanatical) to go and frolic on top of one of those green hills that you're always seeing on postcards.
Well, we found the river, much to her delight, and after a short photo shoot got back on the road and found the Heritage Center. I was very impressed with the qualities of their display on the Great Famine, but I did feel that 4euro was a bit steep to pay for the tiny exhibit. Still, the lady running the place was SO nice and helpful that it was definitely worth it. She took us over to the great big map they had on display and started telling us all the places we should visit in the next 3 months.
Aw, I just typed 6 months instead of 3 and had to go erase it and change it and it was super duper sad. I wish I had 6!!
Anywho, after the Heritage Center we went off in search of a scenic walk. Casey was again the trailblazer, but rather than lead us on the nice path along the river (as Jessica and I suggested) she led us through a nice suburban development :P We ended up at the same picturesque bridge we would have if we'd taken the river path though, so it worked out. After another photoshoot in front of some loverly scenery, we crossed the bridge and the girls indulged me when I saw a great creepy old looking cemetary and had to check it out. I kept my rather macabre dorkiness to a minimum though, and we walked through the cemetary up a small hill, and came out on a windy one lane road that was surrounded on both sides by trees and super tall wild bushes and stuff.
To the right of us we could just see the start of a road or a driveway leading up the bluff/hill thing. I suggested we take that route and see if we couldn't make Casey's dream of frolicking on a hill come true, but ever the trailblazer, she chose to lead us left instead. We walked along the windy land for quite a while, thankgoodness no cars came by. Eventually we reached a tract of land that was for sale and there appeared to be a tiny narrow path upwards. It was crazy narrow and lead through a massive bramble patch with spiny pointy bushes/brush that was taller than me.
We had but to stand by this for a few seconds when Casey suddenly bolts up the incline and disappears into the shrubbery. Of course. :P Jessica and I hesitate for a minute. And Casey doesn't come back. And then Casey still doesn't come back. So I venture up the path a bit, but it's really steep and composed entirely of pricker bushes. The further I go, the more they wrap around my legs and backpack, so it doesn't take me long to decide not to follow my insane friend. I sort of went "Casey? Er...Casey?" but that was about all the effort I made. Hey, it was more than Jessica did!
Eventually I heard her rummaging around and we both descended together. She apparently had been attacked by both briars and bees and had gotten stuck for a good minute or two. Jessica and I were momentarily concerned, but when we saw that all she was whining about was a couple scratches we had some good fun mocking her :P Well, after the briar incident we headed back the way we'd come. A quick investigation of the actual road up the bluff that we'd seen from the cemetary earlier lead us to a horse pasture and a funny mini-video of Casey and Jessica running like dorks. We could probably have gotten much higher up the bluff by following said road, but we really had to get back to the bus stop.
After yet another wrong turn by Casey (don't ask me why we were still letting her lead at this point) we finally made it back to town, and back to the bus station. Came back here, made myself a mini-frozen pizza (it was 7pm by then, I wasn't about to cook) and settled down with the computer. Then I heard Bi Shan's new roomates arrive and panicked that mine could come tonight instead of tomorrow like they're supposed to, and cleaned up the apartment nice. There's still a few things that need doing before they show tomorrow, but the bulk of the cleaning is done. Now I just need to be waaay less messy and start confining my crap to my room. So sad!
aaaaaand, now I've come full circle as I'm whining about my new roommates again. But still. It's MY space. Mine I tell you! It has been for a month, and I've gotten quite used to it being like this. It's ever so nice!
Ah well, such is life. And my life is certainly a sleepy one right now. I suppose I should get to be and talk to ye lads in the morning. (I'm so bringing "ye" back to America with me. We just *need* a plural for you! we do!)
Night!
-Colleen
The flatmates show up tomorrow, allegedly. Evidently April isn’t going to be here until the 20th, but Josephine said my flatmates ought to be showing up on the 18th and I just heard Bi Shan (the girl across the hall) greeting her new flat mates an hour or so ago. So I guess people will be arriving any time now.
I really really hope they get here tomorrow, because I’m going on a trip with Archaeology from Tuesday until Thursday. So it would suck if they showed up then. Well, I mean it wouldn’t be a horrible tragedy or anything, but I’d like to be here to greet them, and make sure they know that this is my territory. Er, I mean...show them around?
My life has begun to follow a pretty clear pattern. The weekdays all consists of the same basic pattern. 9:30-1pm is class. 1pm- 3/4pm is doing errands downtown, shopping, window shopping and the like. Seems like there are always things I need to do and buy. 4pm - 6pm involves sitting on my duff and watching ridiculous TV. 6/6:30ish is when I begin making myself dinner, usually while watching the ridiculous Australian/New Zealand soap opera called "Home and Away" I generally then eat dinner and then spend the rest of the evening reading, watching TV or wasting time on the internet. I go to bed either fairly early or quite late depending largely on how well the internet is working and who's online.
Pretty dull, really. But a nice sort of dull. Sure, sometimes I wish the girls downstairs would call and invite me out with them. I've had other friends invite me out, but they live waaaaaaay the hell away and I hate making people walk me back here after a pub, but I'm not about to walk myself back. Besides, I usually tell myself that I shouldn't go because I'm going to work on my essay..... but of course that never happens.
Anywho, the weekdays are rather dull and then the weekend EXPLODES with activity. Generally I've been going on little trips around Ireland, the surrounding villages and the like which involves bus rides and a hell of a lot of walking. So by Monday I'm exhausted and the cycle begins anew.
It's a good time though, I'm loving life at the moment.
School starts for real not this coming week but the next one, the 24th or 25th, whatever the day is. I'm anxious to get the timetables (i.e. the schedule of when the classes are) so that I can start planning my schedule in ernest. It's so exciting looking at the billions of different classes and trying to decide which ones I should take. Obviously I'm going to try and take as many in the middle of the week as possible and leave at least Friday free for travel. Very exciting!
I went to a village called Skiberreen today with the girls. The girls being Summer, Vanessa, Casey and Jessica. They're my main group now. Sam and Megan from downstairs have gotten themselves Irish boyfriends already who live way out in the countryside, so they leave Thursday and don't come back til late Sunday these days. (Megan knew the boys before she even came, which is how they moved so fast) And Cassie, Erin and Bi Shan I still see and talk to sometimes but we don't hang out as much anymore. For all that Blaise and I are the same person, we never seem to hang out outside of class which is pretty sad, actually because I think she's a super nice and fun person. Eh, such is life, right?
Well, anyway Jessica, Casey, Vanessa and often Summer are pretty much my group now, and the five of us (plus Casey & Vanessa's new French roomate and her boyfriend) went to Skiberdeen. The bus was pretty expensive, but I had a great day, so I'm not about to complain. Tried a pork burger with mystery sauce, cucumbers which were sort of pickled, cheese and mixed greens. The lively Irish vendor guy gave me a hard time about not wanting mushrooms, but I wouldn't relent. They're icky fungus. Um....it was pretty much the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my life. The whole trip was worth it for that burger alone, seriously.
I showed amazing restraint at the food festival thing and only bought the burger, hot chocolate made w/ real chocolate, a donut type pastry and a jar of homemade creamcheese for the apartment. Compared with what I bought at the little market at the Ceili last week, that's fantastically good, trust me.
There was only so much to see and do at the food festival, so we took to exploring the town. It had some cute shops, but most things were closed as it was Sunday. We'd split up by that point, so it was just Casey, Jessica and I. Casey was our trailblazer, she kept trying to lead us to the ocean until we found the tourist office and I pointed out to her the enlarged map which (unlike her tiny guidbook one) showed that we were in fact, quite inland. She was bitterly disappointed, but instead insisted that we find the river. The girl has some sort of strange addiction to large bodies of water, I'm telling you. That and rolling green hills. She's determined (as am I, actually, only I'm not quite so fanatical) to go and frolic on top of one of those green hills that you're always seeing on postcards.
Well, we found the river, much to her delight, and after a short photo shoot got back on the road and found the Heritage Center. I was very impressed with the qualities of their display on the Great Famine, but I did feel that 4euro was a bit steep to pay for the tiny exhibit. Still, the lady running the place was SO nice and helpful that it was definitely worth it. She took us over to the great big map they had on display and started telling us all the places we should visit in the next 3 months.
Aw, I just typed 6 months instead of 3 and had to go erase it and change it and it was super duper sad. I wish I had 6!!
Anywho, after the Heritage Center we went off in search of a scenic walk. Casey was again the trailblazer, but rather than lead us on the nice path along the river (as Jessica and I suggested) she led us through a nice suburban development :P We ended up at the same picturesque bridge we would have if we'd taken the river path though, so it worked out. After another photoshoot in front of some loverly scenery, we crossed the bridge and the girls indulged me when I saw a great creepy old looking cemetary and had to check it out. I kept my rather macabre dorkiness to a minimum though, and we walked through the cemetary up a small hill, and came out on a windy one lane road that was surrounded on both sides by trees and super tall wild bushes and stuff.
To the right of us we could just see the start of a road or a driveway leading up the bluff/hill thing. I suggested we take that route and see if we couldn't make Casey's dream of frolicking on a hill come true, but ever the trailblazer, she chose to lead us left instead. We walked along the windy land for quite a while, thankgoodness no cars came by. Eventually we reached a tract of land that was for sale and there appeared to be a tiny narrow path upwards. It was crazy narrow and lead through a massive bramble patch with spiny pointy bushes/brush that was taller than me.
We had but to stand by this for a few seconds when Casey suddenly bolts up the incline and disappears into the shrubbery. Of course. :P Jessica and I hesitate for a minute. And Casey doesn't come back. And then Casey still doesn't come back. So I venture up the path a bit, but it's really steep and composed entirely of pricker bushes. The further I go, the more they wrap around my legs and backpack, so it doesn't take me long to decide not to follow my insane friend. I sort of went "Casey? Er...Casey?" but that was about all the effort I made. Hey, it was more than Jessica did!
Eventually I heard her rummaging around and we both descended together. She apparently had been attacked by both briars and bees and had gotten stuck for a good minute or two. Jessica and I were momentarily concerned, but when we saw that all she was whining about was a couple scratches we had some good fun mocking her :P Well, after the briar incident we headed back the way we'd come. A quick investigation of the actual road up the bluff that we'd seen from the cemetary earlier lead us to a horse pasture and a funny mini-video of Casey and Jessica running like dorks. We could probably have gotten much higher up the bluff by following said road, but we really had to get back to the bus stop.
After yet another wrong turn by Casey (don't ask me why we were still letting her lead at this point) we finally made it back to town, and back to the bus station. Came back here, made myself a mini-frozen pizza (it was 7pm by then, I wasn't about to cook) and settled down with the computer. Then I heard Bi Shan's new roomates arrive and panicked that mine could come tonight instead of tomorrow like they're supposed to, and cleaned up the apartment nice. There's still a few things that need doing before they show tomorrow, but the bulk of the cleaning is done. Now I just need to be waaay less messy and start confining my crap to my room. So sad!
aaaaaand, now I've come full circle as I'm whining about my new roommates again. But still. It's MY space. Mine I tell you! It has been for a month, and I've gotten quite used to it being like this. It's ever so nice!
Ah well, such is life. And my life is certainly a sleepy one right now. I suppose I should get to be and talk to ye lads in the morning. (I'm so bringing "ye" back to America with me. We just *need* a plural for you! we do!)
Night!
-Colleen