Alive, well, and busy.
I'm in Gleann Cholm Cille now. Actually, I'm currently in Donegal Town using an internet cafe, but I've been at the Gleann and living in the dorms since last Sunday.
Classes go from about 10am to 10pm and I'm exhausted before and after. And during breaks. There's one computer with (dial up) internet access to share between the 22 of us so needless to say updates will be infrequent, though it just occurred to me today to type up entries on another, non-internet blessed computer, save it to a disk, and then paste it. So perhaps there will be more updates from me soon. This is assuming I have free time. The first several days were difficult becuase something blooming or something or other caused me to basically have one continuous asthma attack for four days. It was, needless to say, scary and uncomfortable and it was rather difficult to either enjoy my experiences or analyze them very much. Oxygen to the brain helps with all that.
As soon as I told my professor what was going on and got the necessary information to get to the twice a week clinic, the asthma stopped. Compeltely. I have a bit of a cold but it's nothing much and there's a plethora of herbal remedies and preventative things in the house. I think the 10 of us could probably supply the entire town with echinacea, vitamin c, ginger, garlic, and various more obscure remedies for the next year or so.
Trying to talk to Nelson has been a bitch and a half with the very tight schedule, but we've more or less managed. I've had lessons in whistle, bodhran, set dancing, singing, and unfortuantely had to leave aside the weaving and the knitting as sitting in a room full of wool yarn for 2.5 hours proved to be a bit too much for my lungs. (My wool allergy manifests in coughing and wheezing and not even my trustly Allegra seems to help it.) I'm trying to decide if I'm going to make the time to re-learn my flute as well as play the whistle or if I want to do just one or the other.
Oh, and I got to meet and talk with Mary Condren and have some tenative plans for my senior thesis next fall. More on that later after I figure some of it out for myself.
Hmmm, not much time to get to the bookstore and grocery store before heading back to sheep-town. The view from the Gleann is amazing and the lamblets are adorable as they frolic and bleat. I want to pet them except for the ticks and fleas. And the wheezing. Ah, the wheezing. But really, I wake up and look out the window and see rocky cliffs, green pastures, and the ocean. I hear the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks and little lambies meeeeeehhh-ing and my bunkmate rolling over saying, "fuuuuuccccckkk."
The dorm has been renamed the craichouse and the name is entirely fitting. Good thing I have earplugs is all I can say.
Classes go from about 10am to 10pm and I'm exhausted before and after. And during breaks. There's one computer with (dial up) internet access to share between the 22 of us so needless to say updates will be infrequent, though it just occurred to me today to type up entries on another, non-internet blessed computer, save it to a disk, and then paste it. So perhaps there will be more updates from me soon. This is assuming I have free time. The first several days were difficult becuase something blooming or something or other caused me to basically have one continuous asthma attack for four days. It was, needless to say, scary and uncomfortable and it was rather difficult to either enjoy my experiences or analyze them very much. Oxygen to the brain helps with all that.
As soon as I told my professor what was going on and got the necessary information to get to the twice a week clinic, the asthma stopped. Compeltely. I have a bit of a cold but it's nothing much and there's a plethora of herbal remedies and preventative things in the house. I think the 10 of us could probably supply the entire town with echinacea, vitamin c, ginger, garlic, and various more obscure remedies for the next year or so.
Trying to talk to Nelson has been a bitch and a half with the very tight schedule, but we've more or less managed. I've had lessons in whistle, bodhran, set dancing, singing, and unfortuantely had to leave aside the weaving and the knitting as sitting in a room full of wool yarn for 2.5 hours proved to be a bit too much for my lungs. (My wool allergy manifests in coughing and wheezing and not even my trustly Allegra seems to help it.) I'm trying to decide if I'm going to make the time to re-learn my flute as well as play the whistle or if I want to do just one or the other.
Oh, and I got to meet and talk with Mary Condren and have some tenative plans for my senior thesis next fall. More on that later after I figure some of it out for myself.
Hmmm, not much time to get to the bookstore and grocery store before heading back to sheep-town. The view from the Gleann is amazing and the lamblets are adorable as they frolic and bleat. I want to pet them except for the ticks and fleas. And the wheezing. Ah, the wheezing. But really, I wake up and look out the window and see rocky cliffs, green pastures, and the ocean. I hear the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks and little lambies meeeeeehhh-ing and my bunkmate rolling over saying, "fuuuuuccccckkk."
The dorm has been renamed the craichouse and the name is entirely fitting. Good thing I have earplugs is all I can say.