little house on the prairie

ok, so how many of you loved the little house on the prairie series?
as a child i loved the books, i read and reread them about a million times, my copies are so beat up and i know all of the stories.
so i was reading gawker at work, ok i get bored at work and it is just so funny, so this caught my eye this morning.

Little House in the Big Woods: ''I Play With A Pig Bladder Like It's a Balloon''

so of course i had to read it, and i was laughing out loud, i thought it was funny.
it made me want to go and read them all over again, i loved those books so much, my favourite i think would be these happy golden years or little town on the prairie..

i still want to go to missouri, so i can go to the house.

for hero day in 5th grade, i did my project and presentation on her.

anyway, happy monday morning :)

it is sunny and freezing in cork!

geography

so i'm slightly obsessed with the traveler iq game on facebook. its the map game, where you have to find places, and you get points for how close you are and how fast. i'm dominating it right now, i've gotten to level 11 on the world, and in the US i've gotten to the final level, but i haven't been able to beat it, they give you the randomest places possibly ever. i've also gotten to level 7 of 8 in the world capitals, it is the stupid caribbean that messes me up. grrrr. so it is slightly addictive and i suggest you all play, :)

i love geography and maps, so this is the perfect thing for me, i'm learning lots, especially about africa and the pacific.
i love the fact i can play at work too :)

so i have been completely lazy this weekend, and i don't like it.
it was so weird this morning waking up and not hiking, grrr.
i've watched some sex and the city and wrote christmas cards, as well as emailed my friends and family.
i've read some for fun and spent most of the day curled up in bed, very comfy.

so i got a christmas package friday from my aunt and it was so surprising :)
she sent me a gorgeous cashmere sweater, a cute little christmas tree sculpture, a yankee candle. i was very excited.

saturday, i decided it would be fun to head into the city centre, despite the crazy christmas shoppers. it was fun to walk around with everything all christmasy. i also went and saw enchanted. it finally came out over here. i love happy little movies like that, and it was pretty good in the princess theme, because she was the one who ended up saving herself in the end, kinda. and patrick dempsey, is always a plus. and it was pretty funny. it made me miss nyc, though, i loved all the scenes in central park, they had a lot of it in my favourite places in the park.
also its kinda crazy this wil be the first time in probably about 10 years, that i haven't gone into the city for christmas.
but i'll be in edinburgh :) so yay!

its crazy i leave on thursday :) i am soo looking forward to it and seeing laura!! eeee!

off to watch friends and seriously finish these christmas cards!!

mitchell

so anyone else think the fact that the baseball steroid report was being carried out my former senator mitchell funny?

he goes from the good friday peace agreements in n.ireland to the baseball steroid guy...

i just think its hilarious.

especially since 12 american scholars are chosen to go to ireland for grad programs and its named after him and he was sooo influential in the peace talks and everything.

and now are they going to offer baseball scholarships named after him for those who don't test positive for steroids?

o holy night

o holy night is one of my favourite christmas songs, especially when sung by a choir
i went to the choral societies, christmas concert and wow, it was amazing.
i was so impressed.
they did handel's messiah and then about 7 other christmas songs.
the atmosphere in the honan chapel was incredible.
my favourite part of the evening was when the girl who was singing o holy night, (who was amazing) and then the rest of the choir came in, just wow.

the rest of the day was just as fabulous.
worked this morning, and i was very excited for work to be over, so i could go home and set up the internet. which means i am now sitting in my room using the internet, and i don't have to worry about loosing the wireless signal, so now i am connected to the rest of the world. i don't have to sit oddly on the steps, or perch myself on the edge of the couch, yay!
and i had a package outside my door, it was from amy. i was soo excited. she sent me little women, and i am watching it tonight with popcorn, because its what we do. little women and popcorn, i miss out movie watching.
and i also went downtown to get the heater, and i can't believe i didn't get it sooner. so its been a great day!

last night was the club christmas party and it was great fun.
we went to the well and i hadn't been there in 2 years, forgot how great it was. after that we went to freakscene, its also been two years since then, its funny how we went there almost every other wednesday 2 years ago, and it wasn't until the christmas party we went this year. oh well. it was a fun night.

handed in my paper on wednesday, i was very happy with it, so hopefully andy likes it. then because it was a complete shit day, seriously poured all day :( icky. went to lunch and then watched some sex and the city and we said goodbye for a month. its going to be weird to not be texting each other like mad all day.

tuesday was my exam, it went well i wrote for an hour on oral history and 50 minutes one microhistory, so i think i did ok? my arguement for oral history was much stronger, but i knew what i was talking about for both, so its over. and thats what i care about. i wonder when we get our marks? then kara and i went to scuzzi's for dinner and it was fab :) the malteser cheesecake was to die for, so amazing.
monday was usual, work all day and then kara and i did dinner, studied and then i went climbing. i'm facing my fears and i lead climbed the small overhang, it scared the shit out of me, but i knew i could do it. yay! the i attempted the red/blue on the overhang and it was funny, i worked for 10 minutes on the first move, i hate being so short sometimes, i got about 2/3 of the way up before my arms were done. so its getting there, i can climb that bit of the wall, any colour, so now i'm working on being more specific. yay for climbing.

going to be a relaxing weekend and just finishing up christmas cards and wondering about cork :)

a blah monday

so i finished my paper saturday afternoon :)
now just trying to edit it, which i am having the hardest time doing, going into talk to andy tomorrow about it and about my thesis, i would like to write my first chapter over winter break, especially since i'm kinda in paper writing mode, it took me forever to get into writing this paper since i haven't had to do anything written all semester. sometimes i wish ireland wasn't so research based, and more classes, but i usually like it.
my exam is tomorrow, i did some studying saturday and some last night. kara and i are meeting after i climb tonight, i know i am doing the oral history question, still undecided between the social history and microhistory. i'm well prepared for the oral history one, but kinda iffy on the other two, i guess it depends on what the actual question would be, to what i want to do. the lecturer told us what one the oral history was when he talked and the other 2 told us topics, so i have an idea... grrr. for exams, i haven't had to take one in practically forever. seriously the last exam i took was in my junior year in the spring and it was the historiography exam, and the last one before that was my early start history and the last one before that was my spring of sophomore year my bio final and the women's history final.

so yesterday the hike was wet and windy. it was so much fun though, but the plan was slightly changed.
because the gale force winds again and pouring weather, the attempt to hike purple was thwarted, and we thought about climbing something else nearby, but that was also changed to the road. it was nice to walk along the road through the gap, lots of wind, it was slightly crazy, so many waterfalls in the gullies and even waterups, when the wind would push the water up in the air. it was cool. lots of good conversation, so we stopped for lunch and emer and i thought putting up a kishu would be a good idea... hahahahahha. it was funny and we were getting blown about like crazy in there. so it was fun and wet and windy, but a great last hike of the term. then after we went to kate kearney's for some great talking and drying out.

got a semi busy week ahead.
going climbing and studying with kara tonight.
tuesday is work, meeting with andy, exam, then kara and i are going out for our holiday dinner.
wednesday is class then kara and i are doing something because she leaves me for a month on thursday, mountaineering club party
thursday is work and then going to the choral christmas concert
and friday is just work, and hopefully seeing the wac kids sometime this weekend before they go.

wet and windy

a long wet, dreary irish week.

last friday as kara and i watched grey's the rain was just lashing. so windy and redic outside.

and then rest of the weekend it was the same.

saturday was fun, slept in, which was amazing! then met up with susie and guiseppe to go to the IBL (irish bouldering league) and had a great time watching all the climbing, i didn't climb but watched, scored a few routes and also took some pictures. it was really cool to watch the climbing and see some great climbers. there were also a few other ucc people and after a ton of people went to an indian restaurant and it was great craic, i'm begining to like indian food more, i need to get used to the spices more.

sunday was crazy. there were gale force winds, but that didn't stop 21 of us from hiking. we went to the galtees and it was so much fun. the wind was crazy, as we were hiking up a few times i had a hard time walking especially in a straight line, we decided to just stay low and in sheltered area, but it got to be really crazy and i kept getting knocked over and was having a harder time. so conor decided to turn around and about a minute later i get knocked down into a famine wall, and amanda landed on top of me, and she ended up cutting up her chin, lucky for me i wasn't hurt, just bruised, which is normal. so we do some first aid, using the famine wall as a wind break. it was so weird getting off the mountain at 2pm. so we got back to cork at like 5, so amanda, orla and i went to curran's for dinner. it was fabulous and we sat around talking and eating until 9pm. such a great night.

so monday morning, i wake up and find we have no hot water, so not in a good mood. find out when i went home for lunch, we ran out of oil, so also no heat. it was sooo feckin freezing in the house. thank god for my hot water bottle. monday night i did some reading and then went to kara's for a shower and tea. it was the first monday night all year i didn't go climbing, it was weird. tuesday, still not in a good mood, because no shower in the morning, seriously i didn't realize how dependent on my morning shower i was until its gone, maybe also because it is horrible outside, raining and yucky too? so work, then class, found out the exam tuesday, is only going to be 2 essays instead of 3, so yay! then hung out at karas for dinner and a shower and was just feeling exhausted so went home and went to bed early.

wednesday was day 4 without a shower at home, so after class, kara and i went to the city centre and had a fun afternoon of shopping. and i came home to find hot water, so i was excited. took a shower, had dinner and then went climbing :) and then the usual tom barry's and brog fun with the club.

and then thursday night was a work party, so one of the girls is leaving for austria this weekend to work in a ski resort, so we all went out for a little leaving party. so we went to this tapas place and it was amazing. i drank soooo much wine it was ridiculous, seriously we each had about a bottle of wine and it was so much fun, so then we decide to go to a club, i really wasn't in the mood to go clubbing, but if dave, my boss who is early thirties, married with a child and trish who is the person in charge who is also 30 went i had to. so jokingly someone says this club, which i was like not ever going there because it is full of 1st years and just horrible, so we went and it was hilarious. so it was a really funny night, and now at work we were all hungover friday morning and it was pretty funny.

friday was a dreary day, after work kara came over for lunch and we watched love actually. then after she left i managed to get some more done on my paper, and now i'm in the library, mainly using the internet because we've completely lost the connection that we've been using in the house, and finishing up my paper :) then just relaxing tonight and tomorrow going to the gap to do purple mountain or if the weather gods cooperate, go climbing.

grey's anatomy

so kara and i watched 8 episodes of grey's anatomy today.
thanks clare :)

i was going to spend the afternoon reading and writing my paper.
but watching a show i haven't been able to watch in 2 months was such a better way to spend it.
it was a yucky rainy afternoon, so it was totally necessary.

and i also forgot how much i love grey's.

in other news.
life is good :)
classes are going well, i've been reading non-stop this week on post-famine female emigration to britain. i'm pretty much ready to start writing my paper. writing a historiography will be slightly different from what i'm used to, but i'm looking forward to something different.

going to the ibl (irish bouldering league) tomorrow, to watch some climbing. it should be fun.
hiking in the galtees on sunday.

and some serious paper writing.

turkey for you, turkey for me

thanksgiving in england with megan was so much fun :)

i played at windsor castle on thanksgiving while megan worked. i loooooved windsor castle. completely amazing! so awesome its been the royal residence for the last 900 years! the rooms they had on show were gorgeous and my favourite was the crest room, its used today as a banquet room and has about 900 crests of different dukes and kings along the ceiling and walls. after playing in windsor castle i walked into eton and got all giddy when i passed eton's boathouse and the college, but sadly they don't do tours in the winter. so then meg was done with school so we went into london to see avenue q on the west end. it was hilarious, its a completely inappropriate sesame street meets family guy on speed. i totally recommend you see it. it got rave reviews on both broadway and in london. we also crashed at brad's place in london for the evening. it was great to see him after not seeing him in 2 years.

friday we played in london, including going to my favourite telephone booth in london.

seriously, how much better of a place can this phone booth be?
and we just walked around, played in st. james park and also went shopping in h&m. i forgot how much i loved london, last time i was there i was in an emotional state, where i enjoyed it, but i was so upset about leaving ireland that i couldn't really take in london. but i love it.

friday night was our thanksgiving dinner, which was yummy. after the dinner we played karaoke revolution, which is absolutely hilarious.
meg and i were partners and we did an amazing rendition of i will always love you, and then i beat brad to oops i did it again, i could probably even take on britney spears and beat her :) and then i met meg by 1 point to unchained melodies. it was so much fun and we all we laughing so much.

saturday after i got home i was so disgusted with the house, especially the kitchen. it seriously looked as if no one had done the dishes since wednesday, they all went home on friday and there was seriously 2 clean forks and 2 plates. the rest of the pots and dishes were all in the sink or around the kitchen, including the pots with stuff still left in them. so i went on a major cleaning rampage.
i scrubbed the kitchen, cleaned the sitting/dining rooms, bathrooms and vacuumed the entire house. it was so nice to have a clean house, if only for a few hours until people came back on sunday to mess it up. i just don't understand how hard it is to wash your bowl after you eat or if you spill something to wipe it up? grrrrr.

sunday was an amazing hike with the uccmc. we did a few peaks on the reeks. my group did beenkeragh, then carrauntoohil,. the highest mountain in ireland at 1038m, and then caher. it was great going across the beenkeragh ridge and some of the climbing over rocks was grand. we hiked in a cloud for most of the hike so it was misty and slightly rainy, and we got soaked, but it wasn't too cold. about hlafway down caher it got dark, so we donned the headtorches and hiked the last 40 minutes through the wet, wet bog in the rain, seriously i was so wet, i half slid down caher because i couldn't see where i was going. then we walked down the hydro road and to the bus. we got back to the bus about 7pm, the other group had got back a little after 5, oops. they were supposed to do the opposite, but they did caher, carrauntoohil and then back down caher, because they realized it was getting too late to go onto beenkeragh. it was fabulous to change into dry clothes :) it was a great hike and i had a blast.

i can't believe saturday is december. i have sooo much to do, i really need to get started on my essay so i'll be spending a lot of time in the library this week. time is flying by.

thanksgiving already...

busy, busy, busy.

at work now and its been pretty quiet today, i know just because i am writing that things will get crazy.
last week was good, didn't do anything too exciting.
worked all day monday, it is so sad that when i leave work at 5pm it is dark :(
i was completely wrecked from dingle, bruised and sore,tired and emotionally drained, so i was slightly loopy at work.
then of course i went climbing because well, i can't get enough of climbing. i was very proud of myself because i made it to the top of the overhang attempting to do the grey's but i cheated about halfway up and used any colour. but it was the first time i made it to the top on the overhang! so yay! after that i was completely wrecked, so i met up with kara for our monday pint at costigans. it was great and i love our monday night chats, so relaxing and its funny to see what people wear to the bar on a monday night.

tuesday i worked in the morning, then class. then just dinner at kara's and relaxing and joking around with her flatmates. its weird but sometime i feel more at home in her house than my own, maybe its just because most of the girls were friends moving in, and not 7 girls who didn't know each other? wednesday i had my diaspora class and it was good, i wish we met more than once a week or something, its so weird to only have class four hours a week. but it was a good discussion and i didn't really know much about the irish in canada, new zealand, aussie or s. africa. so after class kara wanted to go looking for something to wear to a party, with the guy she is kinda seeing. so we went into the city centre and had a great afternoon. i ended up getting a top and a cute dress in awear and a skirt in mango. yay for sales :) and she eventually found a dress. it was a fun afternoon complete with a yummy lunch of veg soup and tea, like we always do.

wednesday night was funny, it was a quiet night at the wall, and pretty quiet at the pub as well. i didn't really climb much, just attempted the purples along the overhang, but got stuck about 2/3 up and then the silly greens on the wall as well, but i did get higher than last time, so yay for that. then the pub, there was a good amount of people at tom barry's, nothing too eventful, just talking. it was pretty funny though talking about racks, nuts, friends, jugs, cracks, finger jams... if you had overheard our conversation and not been a climber you would have been like wtf?

thursday worked in the morning and then met up with kara for lunch and tea while watching home and away. i've become slightly addicted to this fab aussie soap, its pretty good and its addictive and its on at 1.30 and 6.30, so its pretty hard to miss and episode. then we were lazy and instead of doing work we watched the last 4 episodes of sex and the city, i love those 4 episodes. and i was going to be good on thursday night and stay in and do work, after i cooked an amazing dinner. but kara texted me asking if i wanted to go out with her flatmates, so i decided why not. so i watched ugly betty, ok my beef with rte is you show ugly betty only a week behind, but grey's you are half a season behind, and i don't know when they are going to start season 4... grrrr.

so anyway, i wore my cute new top from awear and went over and i felt old. kara and i are much more of the sit and relax at pub kinda people and her flatmates are far from it, they are also only 2nd years, and i know i drank a lot differently then, but they were crazy. so after some drinking in her flat we head out to a club, and it reminded me i don't like clubbing too much. so kara and i stayed until about 1 and then went to the chipper and walked home. it was a fun night, but i was just tired. i worked all day friday and then kara and i went to costigans for a pint and then i got a text from dave, a few people from the club were going to the oval, so kara and i met them there. it was a fun, relaxing and low key night, just as i like them.

saturday i slept in, yay for sleep. i hadn't been able to sleep in for 2 weeks. then i got ready and packed up a weekend bag, because it was grainne's 21st party in killarney. her friend aoife and cian were picking me up and i was going with them, so i could avoid the bus. it poured on the way up and was an icky rainy day. had a great afternoon, relaxing, getting stuffed by her mom and talking with her family. wore my cute new dress from awear and had a great time first at the hotel where she had friends from home, college and everywhere there as well as some family. then we went out in killarney, which was fun, but going clubbing for the 2nd night in a week when i don't really enjoy it. but it was still a savage night. it was pouring, and after we got home, we stayed up talking and laughing until 4.30. sunday slept in and relaxed at her house, had an amazing lunch and the drove back to cork. i was lazy when i got home and read a marion keyes book, instead of one about irish women and relaxed.

yesterday, i worked all day and went climbing :) i was very excited when i climbed up the left side of the exposed part of the wall. i was completely wrecked but so excited to finally do it. i can't wait to get the right side, and now i'm going to work on colours on the hard ones, i do it so i can climb it, then i go for a certain route. so that was fun. then just went over to kara's and relaxed because it was cold and rainy.

at work now, just about done, have to run to the city centre before class at 3, then class and then kara and i are doing our thanksgiving dinner, going out to eat at scuzzi's and then watching some friends thanksgiving episodes. then tomorrow morning before class is the international thanksgiving breakfast, then class and then i'm hoping on a plane to london where i am going to see meg for thanksgiving!

so yay for everything and i can't believe its thanksgiving already, seriously.

oh funny story, so friday at work a U2 song was on the radio, i said i like U2 and dave (my boss) was like yea, bono is at ucc today. i just laughed and was like whatever dave. so saturday i'm looking at the paper at grainne's and front page photo, bono at ucc for hunger conference... seriously so i thought it was pretty funny. i did apologise to dave at work yesterday just because i thought he was taking the piss out of me. so thats my funny story of the week.

dingle weekend

so i survived the weekend!
it didn't go as bad as i expected it might, but it was still mighty awkward.
so walking to the bus friday, i was like ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
and i realized when i didn't see him, that he had probably gotten a ride up with someone.
so the 3 hour bus ride there i was pretty quiet and at one point amanda (she just finished her masters in english from the US/Canada, and is becoming a good friend of mine) looked at me and asked how i was doing because she realized that he was going to be there. i said i'm ok, and its gonna be weird, but i'm not gonna let it ruin my weekend.

so we get there and after moving into one of the rooms and opening a bottle of koppelberg,i go to walk into the sitting room where a lot of people are hanging out by the fire, so i open the door and there he is on the couch, i walk out and head straight for the kitchen. i felt as i had just seen a ghost. i spent the next hour or so helping to make team cusine's dinner. there were 7 of us cooking together and we made some rocking dinners. so apparently i looked really pale in the kitchen and amanda just gave me a big hug. so after dinner i went into the sitting room, and had a great time. we did the crazy flexibility games with the cardboard box, then people climbed the hostel walls, we circumnavigated the table, and we were in the same room, both doing the games. so it wasn't too bad. while i was on the table colin and brian, while i was hanging upside down from the table went yea, double fist that. and told everyone in the room the story, and all weekend they kept giving me two glasses to hold. but with marcus on friday night it was a complete ignore situation and i was ok with that. i had a great time with my friends and laughing with everyone, despite the awkardness.

saturday was great during the day. hiked the abfab mt. brandon, one of my favourite mountains. the view was great, up to about 2/3 the way up, when we hit the clouds, and we got misted on because we were in a cloud. but it was still great craic. i hiked up the sea cliff side and then down the pilgrim path, where we joked around about the stations of the cross and made up fun jesus ones as we walked down. it was great to be back on brandon and for me to hike and forget about everything on my mind. lucky for me he decided to go climbing with a few people instead of hiking. so it was a great day.

that night though, not as great. so after another fab team cuisine dinner. i was walking in the hall and pretty much bumped into him. i was like fuck, so that was the closest we came to talking or not being across the room from each other. and so for the night we were pretty much always in separate rooms, and at one point i went into the kitchen to get my malibu, i was drinking malibu and sprite and i had about 3/4 of a bottle..... and he was in the kitchen and i sat down and joined the discussion, after a few minutes he left. i laughed. so i was having a great night, laughing with friends and everything,and it was about 2am at this point. and colin and brian were sitting on the coach with me, and brian touched my side on accident and i start laughing and he realised i was ticklish. so he goes to colin, she is ticklish and he tries to tickle me. so i didnt want to be tickled, so i was like seriously stop guys. so they continued, so i slapped colin. and was like not this weekend. and they realised. and this was the start to my downturn. so brian sees i look upset and takes me outside to talk. so him and i talk and i was crying at this point, and he was really great, reminding me that not many people would have come and that i did and i'm the better person. so then amanda comes and was amazing. she was like we are going for a walk, so we walk down towards the ocean and had a great chat about everything and she was great and just got me to talk about everything and get out how i was feeling. so after our walk, i head upstairs to wash my face and take out the contacts and i went back downstairs and sat and hung out for about another hour with people, and he was in the other room. so i finally went to bed around half 4.

sunday i was up early to go climbing :) yay! a gorgeous morning out on dunsheen. i climbed 5 routes and i did my first lead climb outside. leading is where you aren't clipped into the rope at top and as you climb you place gear, which holds ya in. so it was my first time doing it and i did great. before this i climbed 3 really great climbs and i did the climb i leaded, which was really easy. so it was a gorgeous sunny day and i got some great pictures :) and climbing outside at one of the most gorgeous places was what i needed after saturday night. so got back to the hostel in time to pack up and shower then hit the bus for the ride home, where we sang the 3 hours home. it was fab and such a great weekend. i am so wrecked though, both physically and emotionally. i am covered in bruises from the table along my arms and legs and my knees are killing me and so bruised from climbing. hahah, oh yea, so climbing on sunday a route i love is a huge crack, and you have to shove your hands in the crack to climb, so i have two hands in the crack and just burst out laughing because of all the double fisting jokes. so i'm going climbing in a little bit tonight, to stretch out and get some exercise and to see some friends.

so it was so weird seeing him, even from across the room and not talking. it was slightly awkward but i don't know how it would have gone if we had talked. so i am so glad the weekend is over and its something i hope i don't have to deal with again for a long time.

so yesterday i just worked all day, and was slightly out of it because i was so tired and sooo sore. but i went to the wall last night and i only did 2 climbs. but i made it to the top of the overhang! i was so excited. i was at a point for the last 2 weeks where i couldn't get past a certain line on the wall on any climbs, and yesterday was the first time i made it above it. i was completely wrecked after that, but so excited. then i met kara for our monday night pint and it was fab to catch up from the weekend :)

so tonight is dinner with kara and then doing work, wednesday is climbing and pub :) and then saturday i'm going to killarney for my roomate grainne's 21st party! yay! no hiking this weekend though.

trying to circumnavigate the table!

yay for dingle and mt. brandon!

more climbing

me climbing up

two visitors and adventures in cork

so it is november.

i've been really bad at updating this month, but things have been fabulous here in cork :)

classes are going very well. the research methods one is slightly more boring, but i still enjoy it. after class on tuesday nights kara and i do dinner together. we take turns cooking and it has been a lot of fun. i like experimenting with cooking and we always have fun, and a bottle of wine always helps. the diaspora class is fabulous. i'm reading like crazy, and andy is great. i need to make sure i have enough on irish domestics in england this week, and let andy know by wednesday that i'll be comparing england and the us. if not i'll just be doing irish domestics in the us, but a different angle then my undergrad research. so that is going well.

hiking and climbing is also great. two weeks ago went to gougane barra. it was a gorgeous day! went in a smaller group that did a gully scramble and it was great fun. we got back about two hours before the other groups did and had some fabulous soup and conversation. last sunday we went to horse's glen. it was fun. it was the first hike where there was rain but it was still great.climbing has been fab. i bought climbing shoes, which are abfab and pink! so i'm climbing more and more and loving that. wednesday nights out are always funny, you never know the taboo conversation which will occur and who will be made fun of.

megan came to visit me last week! it was so fab to see her! saturday night we went and watched the rugby world cup final. then sunday morning we were up early to catch the bus to the cliffs of moher. it was so great to see them again. it was a clearer day then when i went two years ago and i took some great pictures :) then we took the bus up to galway. it was so great to catch up with megan and talk about life and teaching and everything. galway was fun. it was a yucky rainy, windy day. but we still had fun. we walked around the city and saw this amazingly gorgeous cathedral, and went into cute shops, i bought a cladaugh ring, and the cool thing about them is they were designed in galway, and right outside the city centre was a small fishing village called cladaugh, which is where it originates from. we also walked to the national university ireland - galway, one of the other big universities in ireland and walked around. we kinda crashed graduation.. haha. well just got in the way in the student centre when parents were trying to take pictures. then after a fab lunch we headed back for the weirdest bus ride to cork. then the we just hung out around cork until thursday when she left.

i also had a visitor this week too. my friend kathryn from edblock was in ireland for the week on her break, so she came down to cork for a few days. it was great to see her and talk about wac, edblock, teaching and life in europe. wednesday after meeting her at the bus station i just showed her around cork and we caught up. then we went to the pubs with the club, it was a hilarious night... then thursday we went to kinsale for the afternoon. i love kinsale and all the ships. and on friday we went to lunch and then i took her to get the best hot chocolate in the world :)

last night i went climbing with amanda, and it was great. i got 2/3 up the overhang and i was really proud of myself, i also lead climbed for the first time in 2 years, i did two easy climbs.. just trying to work up the confidence on lead climbing. and i also worked on some of the small overhang.. so it was a great, but exhausting night. then we met up with some people at mutton lane, i love that pub. so it was a fab friday night.

and today i am being lazy, though the amount of reading i have to do is crazy. hiking tomorrow and then a busy week ahead. but i am verrry excited for dingle next weekend with the club!

cliffs of moher panoramic shot

me at the cliffs

me in kinsale harbour

kinsale harbour panoramic

climbing, green cards and yummy dinners

things are going amazingly :)

wednesday's diaspora class was fabulous and i love what we are talking about, the readings are interesting and class discussions are fun. ok i am a dork and i know it.

went into work after it and emailed. so far work has been fabulous also, the people are great and the work isn't hard. so yay! then went climbing and the wall killed me. i need to get climbing shoes. i did the blues on the straight wall, i was pretty close on the reds, and then i attempted to do the small overhang where the reds, yellows and blues got me. i was the closest on the blues, but the last move is tricky. so i spent some time trying to figure them out so i can do them. i belayed for some of the new people and then i tried the greys on the overhang and that was hard, i got about 3/4 up, also using some of the purples. so i'm getting there. so it was fun, and it was a great workout. then off to tom barry's and there was a bunch of new people :) yay! there was the introductory meeting so they went to the pub from there, so it was fun meeting new people and talking. then to the brog where it was packed! but still fun.

thursday i worked in the afternoon and did some readings in the morning. my housemates and some friends were going out, so i invited kara and there were a bunch of us talking and drinking in the house and then we went to the club classic. its a new place and it was cool. i would have liked it more but it was SOOOO hot. so it was a fun night.

worked friday morning, and then my adventure friday afternoon was to finally register with the garda. my bank statement finally arrived so i was able to go. i got out of work at 1, went home and grabbed a different bag, walked to the garda station and was there about 1.30. the immigration window opened up at 2, and i was about 15 people back in the queue. so i read for class while waiting, finally at about 3.30 i was seen. it took a few minutes, and everything went well no problem :) yay. so i am no legal to be in ireland. my id card picture is quite funny. my passport has a few more fun stamps. the next stop was to register for a PPS number, pretty much an irish social security number, so i can complete all the paperwork for work and get paid. so i should have that in a week. so i feel better that this is all sorted. yay.

i also went grocery shopping on the way home, yay for tescos. then after watching home and away with aoife i went out to dinner to with my coworkers to say goodbye to ashling. she has worked in the office for the last 2 years and is leaving to be the secretary in the law department. so yay for her, she was really nice. diner was fabulous. my co-workers are so great. we went to curren's and it was fabulous. soo yummy, i need to go out for a good dinner more often. then we went to the woodward where friday nights are salsa dancing and kieran tried to teach us and it was sooo funny. such a good night out :)

this morning i went out with the crew team and it was a good row. i went out in an men's 8. it was really cool because we went out at 7am, so seeing the cork harbor in the dark was really cool. the rowing went well. i'm still getting used to the differences in rowing here.

i'm meeting up with kara to go into the city centre in a bit and then just relaxing tonight so i can go hiking tomorrow :)

YAY!

annnd megan is coming to see me next week!!! she is coming saturday to thursday! yay! i can't wait to see her. and kathryn is coming the next week from the 31st to the 1st. so yay for visitors!
and i booked my flights to london for thanksgiving. i'm going wednesday to saturday to see megan! yay! and i'm going to edinburgh for christmas to see laura. i booked my flights from december 20th to 28th! YAY! sooo excited to see my friends and to travel :)

first week of grad school!

last week was a crazy week, i've started my first week of grad school classes, went climbing and started working!

monday afternoon i went to the ucc rowing club meeting and seeing the slides and hearing them talk about crew really made me miss it, even more than i already did, so after i went up to talk to a few members and i talked to this guy called toss, he has been helping to coach their men's side and he coxes for one of the boat clubs in cork and he said they needed a senior men's coxswain, so he said to come around on saturday for the water practice, and i went on saturday and it was fun. so since i had experience i went out with the men's 4 and it was weird, but i enjoyed it. it was weird because they do things different, but luckily they all knew what they were doing so for some of it like bringing the boat down and such i just watched. they carry the boat at waists, and gunnels up, which is just so weird and uncomfortable for me to watch, and they don't have docks just a concrete slip so it is just interesting. and so we didn't go out with a coach, so it was just us and it was weird to have no one there, but the guys were great and i had fun, i forgot how much i missed coxing. also one thing to add, its weird rowing on a commercial river, i had to watch out for container ships. yay for the port of cork!

so monday night i went climbing, and the 'new' wall is a lot different. it was the first time i have gone climbing in a long time, so it was frusterating because there were things i wanted to do, i just need more practice to get back into it. but it was fun and i climbed a few walls no problem.

tuesday was my first grad class! YAY! i met up with kara for tea before class and then went to the history postgrad seminar - historical methods and research. its pretty similar to historical methods at wac, and it should be good. different professors each week coming in to talk about different aspects of history and research, and we are going to dublin to go to the archives and national library during the term too. it will just be some readings and participating in class discussions, and then an exam in december. so should be good, and its nice to see what the other history postgrads are doing. so tuesday morning i saw posted on a student job hunter site a job in the accommodations office, looking for part time postgrad work so i stopped by with my CV. and tuesday night i also had a slight issue with my bank at home, but it was all easily fixed.

wednesday was the first diaspora class and it was fabulous! so exciting, i met kara and we figured out where it was, possibly the most random place on campus, its about as big as a professor's office. so there are 8 of us, 4 boys and 4 girls, kara and i are the only americans, the other 2 women are older, one is in her late 20s the other in her 50s. the 4 guys are all younger, just graduated or a year out of college. so andy the professor is fabulous! we talked about the class and our ideas on what is a diaspora, the term diaspora and then our individual research. it was cool to see what everyone else was interested in, and we have some very big differences, which is awesome. the only people who are similar are kara and i, we are both interested in irish female immigration to the US, but different time periods and looks on it. but i am soo excited for this and so glad i decided to come back to cork and do my masters here. wednesday night i went climbing and to the pub, it was fun as usual.

thursday i got a call from the accommodations office, letting me know i had the job, so i went down and decided to go start with a few hours on friday afternoon, just to ease myself in. thursday night was relaxing and i read and did some work. friday morning i ran some errands and then went into work for the afternoon. it went well. i am in the accommodations and student activities offices, so i deal with people looking for housing and the societies on campus. so i update the accommodations website when we get calls from people with available spaces, i help students find places to live, i answer phones and then deal with the societies coming in to get checks written, lodging money into accounts and photocopying. its pretty easy, and as long as there is nothing going on i can email and use the internet and also get some light reading done for class. so friday went well, the people i work with are nice and were really friendly and helpful. so yay!

friday night i sent a text to kara seeing what she was up to, and so i met up with her and her spanish roommate and friends and went out to qube because its free for UCC students to get in, but it wasn't that great. now i remember why i never went there. saturday i met up with kara and carmen, her roommate to go into the city centre after i went to the rowing practice. i ended up buying a really cute green pea coat in dunnes, its a fab colour and it fits me great. so i am excited for that. then after dinner, i went over to kara's where we watched the notebook and drank some wine. kara's friend was having a house party, so after we finished the wine we headed over and it was pretty cool. most of the people were a few years older and either postgrad/phd students or working. but i had some great conversations with people and it was such a fun night!

sunday i didn't go hiking because i felt horrible, my throat and head had hurt on friday/saturday and i decided it wasn't worth it to go hiking and feel like complete crap and possibly even get sicker. so i just relaxed and did readings for class.

monday was my first full day of work! it went well. nothing too crazy that i couldn't handle, i spent about half of the day online though, so i could get used to this. went climbing and i am getting better. i really need to get shoes, as i can't do what i want in sneakers. but i did some harder climbs and i'm getting back into shape. i attempted 2 hard overhang routes and go about halfway up each of them, and i did a slight overhang ok. so i'm getting there. belayed a lot as there were a ton of new people, wednesday is going to be even crazier.

today went into work for the morning, then my seminar class, which was good. interesting topic we dicsussed. the use of digital cameras in the archives and the impact of computers on history. something that really made me think, especially in digital history and making archives easier accessed. then kara came over and we did dinner and hung out. i'm now watching the first episode of this season's grey's online! i finally found it online and ahhhhhhhh, seriously? so glad to finally watch it. i plan to watch the second episode tomorrow and then i want to try to watch private practice. i do miss watching it with the girls though, so it is kinda sad.

i also made lots of travel plans this week, megan is coming to visit the 20th to the 23rd of october, so i am sooooo excited to see her! kathryn might be coming the following weekend from france to see some friends in dublin and cork. i'm going to london for thanksgiving to see megan. and i'm going to edinburgh, scotland for christmas to see laura! so yay! soo excited for this. and i emailed the contact i'd been given about the UK ZTA alumni chapter, and they have been fabulous. so YAY!

id cards, clubbing and hiking

thursday was a very interesting day, i had registration in the morning which went surprisingly well. the only thing that wasn't smooth was when i went to registration when i should have gone to the international student office first, which i wasn't told about, but the line wasn't too long and i got my id card! yay! sooo exciting :) now i can use the library and the gym!

so i walked into the library and i was so impressed. the brand new library just opened and they did an amazing job! i am very very excited to go in and read because they have comfy couches and chairs now, and its a lot nicer looking and i just love libraries. i also opened up my irish bank account and walked around campus a little, i need to register my laptop with the campus so i can get wireless on campus,

so after that i went over to clubs day and i helped out and handed out info on the mountaineering club and talked to people. it was crazy! there were so many people and it was fun talking and joking around with everyone too. wednesday night was also fun at tom barry's and crane lane, talking and getting excited for the first hike and i also saw a few more people for the first time in a long time.

so thursday night i went out with grainne (my housemate) and her friend aiofe. it was so much fun. we drank wine and watched friends and talked and then went to havana's, a club in town. it was good music, not too crowded and it was fun. i hadn't been clubbing in a while and it was great to go out and have fun.

friday i met up with kara and went into the city centre and ran some errands and went for tea. it was great to talk about home and what we are studying and get excited about the disapora and research. when i got back everyone had gone home for the weekend and i was tired, so i just relaxed and watched some rugby. saturday was extreme lazy day and it was nice to relax and do nothing. i did laundry and cleaned the kitchen.

sunday was the first hike with the mountaineering club of the season! yay for bouchail. it was pretty nice weather, kinda sunny and a light wind. 84 people were out for the hike, and kara did come, so that was exciting! i didn't really get to talk to her until the end, because we were on different busses and went in different groups. but i went with emer, ger and karen and our group was pretty awesome. it was really funny because there were so many masters students in our group and i also met a guy doing a history masters. the hike was fabulous, this time i hiked straight up what i went down last time by the pond and it was nice to be out hiking again. i seriously missed it. the bogs were grand and one guy in our group had a slight encounter, but it was funny. after on the bus i met a guy from NAU, it was really funny. it is such a small world. We stopped at a pub in Killarney and had tea and snacks and watched the end of the ireland-argentina rugby match. sadly ireland is out of the rugby world cup now. then the bus back to cork, where i went to the pub with a bunch of people. so it was a great first hike and met a lot of fabulous people.

tonight i am headed to the rowing meeting, we'll see what happens, then off to the wall to climb! YAY!

very excited for class tomorrow and to finally be getting started! YAY!

no classes this week

so monday afternoon was the orientation for masters students at ucc. yay!
the actual information was nothing really new, i already knew about the library, the campus and such. but it was still good to go to. so as the director of the graduate program is introducing herself she tells us to turn to someone by us and introduce ourselves. and i was so excited that the girl i introduced myself to is a history grad, and even better she is in the diaspora option too! so after we started talking, there was a little reception after with wine and she seems super fab! she is from chicago, went to a small school in illinois and studied in limerick two years ago. so while her and i were talking we were also mingling with others, when these two guys comes over and starts talking to us, they told ust they were starting their postgrads in law (and i was thinking is there such a thing here?, and they looked really young) and then they started telling kara and i all about the 'super awesome' freshers week parties. now i'm thinking, i have absolutely no intention on going to any of the freshers week stuff, because do i really want to be around thousands of 17&18 years olds away from home for the first time? so i excused myself to get another glass of wine, and the guy was like so you're blowing me off, i was like no, i just wanted more wine. so he walked away (ok, so it was part of my plan) and when kara and i, and another person who had joined us were like seriously? they were absolutely hammered, and i was like i think they might be freshers, and guy who came over agreed with me. so then the two 'freshers' came back again and were like guess what? we're freshers and we heard there was wine here, so we are going now before we get kicked out. so they were party crashers, it was highly amusing and it made me laugh. so kara and i were talking about when we had class, and neither of us knew anything for sure, so we exchanged numbers and said we would let each other know.

sometimes i miss the simplicity of wac.
so yesterday i thought we had our postgrad seminar, for all history postgrads, because its on tuesday and classes started monday. so on monday, i looked at the timetables online and saw when i had class and wrote it down just to make sure it hadn't changed in the last week. well i had to go to the international student office for something else and asked to double check i had the right times and places, because well they change and don't update the website, and when she printed out something for me, it only had one class and in a different building. ok so i figured this would happen so i tried the history secretary, but she wasn't in. so now i was even more confused.
so tuesday i went to the history secretary and she wasn't in again. grrr. so i went and did something else, and then i went to another history secretary, who i actually think is the postgrad secretary? she was there and it turned out that history masters classes don't start until next week, and the rooms were both different than the timetables. so i was glad i had this figured out, but i have a week before classes start. hmmmm.
luckily i learned last time that things were slightly disorganized so i wasn't as ahhhhhhhhh! as i was last time.

the house mates are fab so far! so i am lucky to have found such a fabulous place with really awesome girls. there is one girl who we know nothing about yet, who hasn't moved in, so we don't know about her, and the girl who has said nothing besides hello. but the other 4 are great and we get along so yay!

i have registration tomorrow so thats exciting, and its clubs day. so i have stuff to do tomorrow! friday i have a few errands i need to run, hopefully, that i get my id card. and sunday is the first hike! yay!

so i am excited for class next week and finally starting my masters. its weird because everyone who is has class has already been there for a month, and i'm ready to start.

rugby and irish tv

It’s been a good few days in Cork, since the last update. Thursday it was absolutely gorgeous in Cork so after going to Tesco to get some things I forgot I went out and read in Fitzgerald Park for the afternoon. It was sunny and warm, I was comfortable in jeans and a short sleeved shirt. Yay! I’m loving the sun and am soaking up as much of it as possible as the fall weather will be here soon.

I’ve become quite fond of rugby. I forgot how much I love it, seriously it is way better than American football. I don’t understand why American sports are so slow compared to the sports around the world. I guess I just love sports, but the atmosphere here towards the gaelic games and anything with Ireland teams is crazy. The pub on Friday night for the rugby world cup was crazy, everyone was singing the Irish national anthem and cheering while the players were being announced and it was great. Until coming to Ireland last time and seeing this for the qualifying Soccer World Cup, I had really never seen anything like it, but it is like this all the time for Ireland games, and I love it.

Unfortunately, Ireland lost to France in the game Friday night, and they didn’t play well. It was 26 to 3. So they have to win their game next weekend against Argentina to advance to the next round. I went to the pub to watch the game, but right before half I felt like crap and left. It was good I left because I threw up once I got home. I think I just ate too much for dinner and it was so hot and crowded in the pub, I wasn’t even drinking, because I didn’t feel good I just had water. Oh well, I watched the horrible second half from my couch.

So I met another one of my housemates, she seems nice. She is in her final year, pharmacy student. she came to drop off some stuff and her and a friend went out Friday night and she left this morning to go home, but will be back on Sunday. The same with Aiofe,, who had her 21^st party today. So I guess everyone will be arriving tomorrow into the house. I’m excited to really meet everyone and get started with the term.

I forgot how much I love shows here. I’ve been watching Home and Away, Hollyoaks, Coronation Street and other “soaps” here. I just figured out yesterday that I will not be able to watch Grey’s or Ugly Betty on abc.com. I was hoping I’d be able to get them online, along with some of the new shows but I can’t. Luckily they air grey’s here, but its about a month or so behind? I also love RTE4. It’s the Irish channel, its funny, because they have the randomest things on, all in Irish with English subtitles. I’ve enjoyed cooking too. AND tea time is my favorite time of day, I am drinking tea constantly and its great. I love barry’s.

Today was the info session for full degree international students. it was pretty much everything I knew from the info they sent to us and last time, but it was good to get some clarification on a few things. I can’t wait until I get my UCC card, so I can go to the gym and climb! and so I can go to the bank and open an Irish account, so I can register with immigration, so I can get a tax number so I can get a job. So it should take about a month, grrr.

Just going to relax today and tomorrow and Monday I need to head over to the International Students Office because I have a few questions and then the Masters Orientation on Monday afternoon. YAY! Things are finally getting started :)

yay for my house

yay!! i am all moved into the house and it is fabulous!

it was a fun weekend in cork, friday night i went out with the club and it was nice to see everyone. saturday night i met up with the wac kids who are studying abroad in cork and i went out with the dave, lindsey and colleen, which was fun. it was great to talk about wac things and to hear about their early start trips and such. it was also funny because at the brog, we ran into the other wac kids, and the whole time i was in ireland the first time i don't think all 6 of us were ever together. it was exciting at the senior lunch for graduation to get a picture of all 6 of us, finally!

sunday i went with the 3 wac students again to watch the cork - kerry football match, and it was fun. cork didn't do so hot though. i forgot how much i loved football. yay!

monday i moved into my house! yayayyayayayyyaay! it is fabulous and so nice. i love being able to have a place of my own. i've met 2 of the roommates, and they both seem cool. one just dropped off some stuff, while aiofe and i have hung out watching tv and talking a few times. yay. monday was sure tiring, as i went into the city 3 times to pick up stuff such as bedding, hooks, hangers and other silly little things, and to tesco to go food shopping. tuesday i also made 2 trips into the city to get things i forgot. but i love my room :) it really is huge and i look out into the street and the college which is nice. i love being across the street from the college. yay!

tuesday night i went to the international office movie night, and i finally got to see the wind that shakes the barley. omg. i loved it. so amazing, i wish i could have seen it in the states. i'm not sure at the choice to show to many who didn't know much about ireland's history though, especially international students. but i enjoyed it. then as today is my brother's birthday, i called home. it was good to talk to everyone.

today i was lazy and didn't really do anything, but i found if i sit on the stairs i get a wireless signal. so that is what i'm doing now. i can't wait for everyone to move in so we can talk about getting internet for the house though. but it is sooo nice to be on my own computer. yay! i've missed it.

so here are some pictures of the house.

the house - fern lodge


my room

more of my room

front entry

dining room

one of the two living rooms

the kitchen is being re-painted still, and the other sitting room is pretty much the same without the tv. there are 5 bedrooms upstairs, with 3 of them being ensuite, and then my bedroom and another downstairs. i can't wait to meet the rest of my roomates. yay!

and as its wednesday, i'll be off to tom barry's for a laugh.

:)

anyway, cork is grand. i spend my days wondering about the city and just exploring. i love it. i also spend a lot of time in parks, especially fitzgerald park, just reading. its very nice. wednesday night i met everyone at tom barry's and it was a laugh. a really fun night. then i went with a bunch of people to this really fab pub, crane lane, its where club 1 used to be, now its a really fab place, where we just talked and laughed.

today i went to cobh for the afternoon, it was grand. i went through the museum again, and walked around the town and sat along the harbor reading. it was nice and relaxing. while i was reading and sitting there i kept thinking about my thesis and how this was the last place in ireland many of them saw, and how gorgeous cobh is. it is one of my favorite places in ireland.

so i'm off to tom barry's to meet up with everyone again!

IRELAND

I arrived safely in Ireland on Monday morning. There was a gorgeous sunrise over the clouds which was cool. Arrived in Shannon at 7am, took the bus to cork, a taxi to the hostel and then went out to get a phone. yay! the last two days I looked at places to live and things are great!

Things in Cork are fab! It is Wednesday afternoon and I found somewhere to live! YAY!! It’s a house on Donovans Road, which is alongside the college, which is fabulous! It’s a huuuge house, and I will be living with 6 other people, my bedroom is huge and bright and there is a nice window. So I am very very excited! The rest of the house is awesome too, there are 2 large sitting rooms, a large dining room and nice kitchen. Also the house was getting renovated over the summer so a lot of it has just been fixed. So I move in on Monday! YAY! I am very very excited.

Yesterday was exhausting, I walked all over the city looking at places to live. I looked at 7 different places and walked pretty much everywhere. Today I sat in Fitzgerald Park and ate lunch and read. It was very relaxing. i just went to the cinema to see Run Fat Boy, Run. It was directed by David Schwimmer from Friends, and it was really cute. I enjoyed it. It topped the British box office over the weekend and apparently it comes out in the US at the end of October.

Tomorrow I think I’m going to go to Cobh and walk around and go to the museum and people watch :) Other than that I'm not up to much yet, trying not to spend too much money and trying to find all the fun free things to do in Cork.

yay!

tomorrow!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! i leave tomorrow!!!!

so i am almost done packing, i need to make my bags lighter, so i need to go through it all again. but the coolest thing happened when i was packing. i bought a ring in kinsale, one of my first weekends in ireland and i wore it all semester and i lost it right at the end of my semester and i was really upset. so i brought out the bag i used for my laptop when i was in ireland and packing some stuff in it for my carry-on when i found my ring! i was sooo excited!

its just starting to hit me that i'll be in ireland soon, i'll be going to tesco, the english market, walking down patrick's street, going to the pubs, walking around campus, seeing signs in irish.

i have been waiting for this day since december 20th, 2005 when i left cork and now its finally here.
and i'm not going for a visit, i'm going back to live again.

i think i need to pinch myself to make sure this is real.
seriously.

my flight leaves sunday night at 7.25 and monday morning at 6.55 i should be in shannon and in cork around lunch time!


YAY!!

packing!

it is tuesday the 4th of september and i leave for cork on sunday the 9th. yay!

i am getting very very excited to be back in cork!
i'll be moving back to cork to begin my masters in history at university college cork. i will be taking classes on the irish diaspora (irish emigration) and doing more research on irish domestic servants.

i had a fabulous weekend in boston visiting my loves jeanne, kaity and also seeing my twin and blythe and in connecticut visiting amy. the irish heritage trail photo scavenger hunt in boston was so fun and a great day with my friends, plus other funny photos. mystic seaport was fab with amy and getting to play with boats and a picnic!

now i'm back in jersey for a few more days and i'm trying to organize my life. i'm getting out everything i want and seeing how it fits. since i want to bring some books and research i'm bringing a third suitcase. and i have a ton of errands to run and making sure i have everything figured out for the next year or so.

i leave on sunday night from newark and i arrive in shannon on monday morning, i should make the first bus from shannon to cork, i'm going to take a taxi from the bus station to the hotel and from there get a cell phone and start calling to find somewhere to live. i'm excited to be taking classes, to meeting new people and to be back in ireland :)