Finally Finished, Farewell

The week before was a nice week. I went to Dublin twice this past weekend. On Friday, Arlette and I were invited to a reception / lunch by the Lord Mayor of Dublin. She was doing this for international students. Never one to pass up free food (especially free good food), we both attended. We met a lot of other internationals. An American here or there, a few Russians, and your standard assorted Continentals (French, Spanish, Italian, and German). Several ambassadors also attended, so I chatted up the Indian ambassador. On Sunday, Arlette, Ita, and I went back to Dublin to see some more sights and such. We saw the Kilmainham jail and walked by the Guinness factory on the way to St. Stephen's Green. We were to meet Dan Shannahan there for lunch at Wagamama (awesome name, I know). We would've walked around Guinness factory were we not already late for lunch. Or on time, I suppose, if you're Irish. Lunch was delicious and we wondered around the decked-out mall nearby. Once we got back home, I made the last flat dinner - the famous American Breakfast for Dinner. Again, delicious.

I've finally finished my semester. This past week has been quite busy. I've had SQL assignments, two 3500 word essays, and two exams. It feels nice to be done with it all. Of course, that means my time in Ireland is coming to an end. I've got some mixed feelings about that. I am really looking forward to coming back to the States, seeing family, watching sports like a proper American, etc. Yet I feel like I've been on an adventure for the past three months (which seems like much longer than three months. I feel like I've been here for ages.) and I don't quite want that adventure to end. I've landed in a foreign country and knew a single person (brother of a friend). I've been all over the country (north, south, east, and west) and was able to spend nine days in Paris. I've met some amazing people here and made some great friends. I've learned a lot about Ireland, America, and myself. (I also learned a little of that college education stuff). I feel culturally educated now. Good job me.

There are many things I'll miss about Ireland. Guinness is probably in the top three. Or two. The people I've met are up there as well. I'm gonna miss the friendliness that everyone seems to have - where you could wander into a pub, sit down next to someone, and have a new best mate. I might miss the Irish accent, even though I haven't given it a second thought for the past few months. I might even miss Euros and how coins are actually worth something.

I've taken some more pictures of Maynooth town and its pubs. Oh pubs. You will be missed as well.

The road leading up to North Campus. The shopping mall is the big building in the back.

O'Neills. Jazz nights on Tuesdays and Rock and Roll on Mondays - the music was always good. As the second smallest pub, it had quite a cozy feel.

The Mantra. The upstairs is the closest thing Maynooth has to a nightclub and the only place in town to charge cover. The downstairs was more traditional and had a pub quiz every Tuesday. This place just opened up last year. It used to be the dive bar but is much snazzier now.

This is the Roost. Yes, everything in this picture, except for the chimney way on the right-hand side. There are four different bars and two separate dance floors inside. The Roost had live music Sunday through Thursday nights. My personal favorite pub.

Church. I went here on Sundays. It was conveniently located on the way to the pubs.

There are two other pubs - the Student's Union pub and the Clocktower. I never went to the Clocktower because it's just a little too far away. The SU pub is notable for the three euro pints they had every Monday. As a student, I often felt compelled to take advantage of this offer.

This will be the last post in my blog. I've enjoyed writing about my experiences and adventures and I hope you've enjoyed reading. I'd like to thank everyone who read this blog, especially those of you that commented and made me feel loved. Extra kudos to you.

I'd like to say something profound in Irish here, but my vocabulary is pretty limited. I think 'goodbye' is 'slawn' or something like that, which I suppose will do.
S'long and slán.

Internet was down yesterday

But I was bored, so I wrote a blog post. Here ya go.

I have less than two weeks left in Ireland. For some reason, two weeks seems like a huge milestone. Fifteen days is a lengthy span of time, but thirteen days is hardly any time at all. Two weeks today I'll be heading up to Chicago (which I'm really looking forward to).
I've got quite a bit of work to do in the meantime. A computer program or two, some math worksheets, and two essays with six thousand words between them. Obviously, the essays are the greater part of the work to do. Apart from that, I have one single exam to take the last week.

I'll leave the better part of my ruminations on leaving Ireland for next week. This week, I'll speak of America - land of the free and such. Here's the top five things I miss most about the good ol' US of A.
1) Chipotle. You have no idea how much I crave this. I think I could eat it three times a day for a month.
2) Peanut Butter. Ireland has peanut butter in the same way America has Guinness - a pale imitation of what it should be. A proper PB & J is next on my "To Eat" list.
3) Snow. It's not cold enough in Ireland to get snow. Chirstmastime doesn't feel the same without snow at some point.
4) Friends and family and what not.
5) Cheap alcohol. A tray of Budweiser (18 500ml cans) costs 28 Euros (roughly 42 real dollars), whereas a case back home (24 330 ml cans) is less than 17 dollars.. A pint in a pub is six real dollars if you're lucky.

Don't feel bad, friends and family. You managed to beat out cheap booze.

I've received some housing information for Dayton next semester. I'll be staying with international students in Gardens Apartments on Stewart. I really liked the little cultural exchanges that occurred between my flatmates and I this semester and I'll try to continue that.

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all. Despite the lack of snow, I am full-out in the holiday spirit and very much looking forward to Christmas. I was promised a pumpkin pie to myself since I wasn't able to have any for Thanksgiving.

Before we depart for the semester, I promised Arlette a list of things she should do when she and her husband visit America. I've compiled a list, but I want to know if you guys can think of anything they need to do, eat, visit, or try in order to truly experience America. The less region-specific, the better.
- Visit Cedar Point (a little region-specific, but they are huge roller coaster fans).
- Eat at Chipotle.
- Eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Use Reduced Fat JIF brand peanut butter.
- Eat BBQ chicken wings, funnel cake, chocolate peanut butter pie, pumpkin pie, crab cakes, and an alfredo pasta dish.
- Dunk Oreos in milk.
- Root against the New York Yankees.
- Eat Twinkies, possibly deep-fried.
- Don't go to New Jersey.
- Go to a baseball, football, or basketball game. Attend the tailgate, if it's a football game.
- Good beers: Arrogant Bastard Ale, Honker's Island, Mad Anthony's, Yuengling
- Go camping. Eat S'mores.
- Go to a drive-in movie theater.

Turkey Day and Belfast Weekend

Well, the previous weekend's plans mostly fell apart. I didn't go to Dublin or play basketball. I also missed the kenpo class. These all turned out to be blessings in disguise, since I had quite a bit of homework to do over the weekend.

Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely wonderful. I cooked a turkey (7 pounds), gravy, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and corn (and we had some apple crumble tart for dessert). I was serving eight that night: myself, Thomas, Arlette, and Hawkins, as well as Thomas's friend Thomas and his girlfriend Nicoli, Ita (a friend of the flat), and Cecilia (another friend of Thomas). Fortunately, Other Thomas used to work as a chef - he was a great help in the kitchen and made sure I didn't make too many mistakes. I also learned several awesome tricks from him, such as the proper way to chop onions without losing fingers.
We didn't eat dinner until around 7:30. This delay (the original plan was to eat at 6:30) was mostly due to our oven, which is conveniently devoid of any temperature markings - you basically guess and hope for the best. In the end, only the top half of the rolls were burnt - everything else came out nicely. The food comas lasted hours and I'm just today finishing up the leftovers.

Friday afternoon, Arlette and I joined the International Club on the Belfast trip. Belfast was a fantastic city. They had just put out all the Christmas lights as well. Since it was after Thanksgiving, I was in full-throttle Christmas spirit. These mixed together well.

Victoria Square is one of the shopping malls around the city center. Although it had more lights, the other main mall, Castle Court, had a much more Christmas-y vibe. Castle Court had a store called The Christmas Store (selling decorations, trees, candles, etc.) and another that had all those amazing old-fashioned toys (no batteries anywhere). In the center of the city, City Hall was all decked out for the holidays.


City Hall, with and without daylight. A traditional European Christmas market was being held here. We had dinner there Friday and Saturday nights (Polish sausage and churros, then raclette and fudge. Mulled wine to drink both nights.) After dinner, we went around to different pubs. Saturday night, Arlette and I went to the Crown Pub, the oldest pub still standing in Belfast. Great craic.

Saturday morning / afternoon, I went on a walk around the city. I had lots of fun stumbling across monuments and such. I wandered into a farmer's market, watched dogs playing in Ormeau Park, watched students playing at Queen's University, and walked through Ulster Museum.

I took some nice pictures as well.

This one was taken at 2:30 in the afternoon. We don't get much sun up here these days.

The old customs house. I saw this Sunday when I took a tour of the harbor area. I saw where the Titanic was launched from ("Built by Irishmen. Sunk by an Englishman.") and the more modern drydocks. Belfast is a real blue-collar town, so I felt some kinship with them. (Not that I'm blue-collar by any stretch. It just reminded me of Cleveland.) Afterwards, I toured the shopping districts and got into the holiday spirit. We had dinner in a small diner off of the main roads.

All said and done, it was an excellent and exciting trip. I think Belfast might be one of my favorite cities now. Although there has been violence (Belfast was the heart of the Troubles) and there still is tension, the city feels alive. The juxtaposition of centuries-old and new architecture makes Belfast quite the interesting place.

One month to go

I'll be leaving Ireland exactly one month today. There's a feeling of inevitability to that.

#18 / 21 Dayton beat #19 / 19 Georgia Tech. GT is in the ACC and plays Duke and UNC two times apiece this season, so this win will pay good dividends for the RPI and SOS.

Last Sunday I found out that the self-defense club trains on the weekends. We did some Jujitsu / Judo and a bit of Eskrima. My back was sore for a few days, since I haven't quite figured out how to properly break my falls yet. On the bright side, Saturdays are Kenpo days and I should be a little more proficient at that.

I've been much more busy with school. I feel like I'm in college again. I even had a microeconomics exam on Wednesday. Although I've been to two classes all semester, I still feel I scored around 75%. Good for a B over here.
On the bright side, I found out that, out of Sociology, Psychology, and Economics, only two of three classes will count to graduation.

This weekend, I'm also playing basketball with the Chinese students and might possibly be going to Dublin. If so, there will be more pictures. There's also some computer work to do.

My computer class has definately been my favorite. It's kind of a survey style class, so we cover a new topic every three weeks. Information Theory was okay, but the next subject was quite interesting. Multiple View Geometry involves feature recognition and some cool stuff called epipolar geometry. At the end of it, we were able to use two pictures taken from slightly different angles and reconstruct a three-dimensional scene from them. Cool beans.

I'm off to do more homework-type stuff.

Basketball, volleyball, the rest of Paris

The Dayton Flyers won their season opener over Chreighton this afternoon, 90 - 80. It was quite strange not being in the stands for the game (I did get a little homesick...) I wasn't able to find a video feed online, but I did catch Larry and Bucky's dulcet tones on their online radio broadcast. Here are some random thoughts on our team.
Dayton has been ranked in the preseason for the first time in decades, so we get professionally-produced videos such as this to get us pumped up.
A lot of the preseason hype focuses on how little we lost from last year. After making it to the second round of the NCAA tourney, we only lost one senior (Charles Little) to graduation. Still, some of the statistics the powers-that-be choose to highlight are a little ridiculous. Example: "The Flyers return 10 of their 11 top scorers from last year." Among these "top scorers" are those such as Paul Williams, adding a vital 2.2 points per game last season. (Caveat - I fully expect Williams to be much more productive this season. He's already had 9 points in the season opener. Still, it just kinda shows how meaningless that 10 / 11 stat is.)
Chris Wright played a great game, scoring 25. Right behind him, the sophmore Chris Johnson seems to have broken out, scoring 18 and grabbing 15 boards.
I saw the highlights video afterwards, including London Warren's insane assist leading to a Marcus Johnson slam (15 seconds in). I watched that part again at least twenty times. If we can keep up that kind of game, we should be pretty good this year :)
This team almost didn't seem like Dayton. Last year, our identity was a defensive and athletic team. We out-jumped and out-rebounded the other teams and completely harassed them on defense (especially the point guard combo of London Warren and Rob Lowry, who are more or less clones of each other defensively, and on amphetamines). But for gravity, our shooters couldn't have hit the floor last year, but our defense really made up for it. Last season, we only scored above 80 four times and gave up more than 70 five times. (And I think only four or five teams were better than 40% shooting last year. Chreighton shot 48.3%)
Dayton shot 72.2% from the charity stripe today. Quite refreshing after for years in the 50, 60% territory.

So far, it's been a good week for sports (go Cavs!) Friday evening, the volleyball club went to Dublin to play IT Tallaght. We won the match in three close sets (scores of 25-21, 23-25, and 25-22). I was used as a libero during the match and had a very good time. I had a few particularly nice diving saves.

I actually have homework to do this weekend, which is a huge change from what I've become accustomed to.

I'll try to finish up Paris tonight :)
Thursday, I spent the day travelling around with Micheal, the English couchsurfer. In the morning, he showed me around Ile-de-France, the business district of Paris. With all of the skyscrapers, it felt much more like home. We walked around the northern / middle section of Paris and took a look at the Centre Pompidou and the Bastille. We both were hit with a strong craving for chocolate milk, so we set out on a quest to find some (we had to look through three different stores.) We drank it sitting on the steps of the Hotel De Ville and discussed EU politics. It was classy.
Afterwards, we left to see Luxemborg. The building itself was not extraordinary, but the gardens surrounding it were. The trees were brilliantly colored and crunchy leaves covered the pathways. My only complaint was that some of the trees were trimmed into square shapes, which I found unnatural and immoral. We then walked around the Latin quarter and checked out the Pantheon (or, "The Least Impressive Monument in Paris).
Micheal and I went our seperate ways afterwards and I met up with Julien again. We went back to his apartment and ordered Dominos pizza (it's much better in France - something about the cheese). We spent the rest of the evening chilling, playing video games, and watching the the Royal Tenenbaums.
Friday was Louvre day. Since this was one of two days with bad weather, it turned out to be a pretty good decision. Unfortunately, the metro from the business district was undergoing repairs, so I had to walk an hour into Paris. The Louvre was fantastic. Works of art where everywhere, although my favorite part of the museum was the museum itself. The wall decorations, facades, ceilings, and architecture were at least as beautiful as most of the pieces contained therein. I did get to see most of the famous pieces, such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, but I was a little unimpressed with them. Too much hype, I suppose. On the other hand, the section of Egyptian artefacts and the preserved living quarters of Napolean III were fascinating (Napolean's rooms defined opulence.)
Wondering around a museum for five hours tends to make one thirsty, so I met up with Julien at a pub (surprise!) He was meeting up with some friends for a birthday celebration. I also met Aviv, an Isreali who would be staying with us Saturday night. Good craic.
On Saturday, I treated Julien to lunch. I figured that I haven't really been to a French restaurant that week and I probably ought to while I was in Paris. Julien took me to a place that did traditional Southwestern French cuisine. I had a very nice duck dish (perhaps scallop de canard avernogne, or something like that) with ham, cheese, and potatoes. Julien had foie gras, so I tried a bite of that.
After lunch, we explored the graveyard Pere Lachaise Cemetary in honor of Halloween. It was a very beautiful graveyard that's been around since the seventeenth century.

Oscar Wilde was amoung those buried here. His grave is covered with lipstick from admirers. Between the feeling of the crisp autumn wind on my face and the cemetary's silence, I found a feeling of perfect contentment.
We met up with Aviv in the evening before heading off to a Couchsurfer party at the train station in Montparnasse. At this point in the week, my French had become almost proficient. I could make out almost half of what people were talking about, then guess the rest. But after anyone's been drinking, this ability fades rapidly. Thankfully, people were mostly happy to speak English (especially the people I met from Canada and California). After that party died down, we went to another party at Julien's neighbor's apartment. It was a much more relaxed affair (perhaps because it was already one-thirty in the morning), but very enjoyable.
Sunday was my last day in Paris. I hadn't been inside Notre Dame during daylight hours, so I paid a little visit. Enjoy some shots of the exterior.



Immediately after this last photo, it began to rain. Since I had to wait five hours for my bus, I was quite fortunate to find the coolest shop in Paris - Shakespeare and Company. This is an amazing bookstore. Bookshelves or ceiling-high stacks of books surround you. All of the titles are in English. The owners take the position that books are meant to be read and provide you with several comfy chairs and couches to do so.

I spent the afternoon going over a book of e e cumming's poetry and a collection of food essays from the New Yorker. (I must apologize for the substandard quality of these photos. My camera was on the fritz since Tuesday and I wasn't able to take enough pictures to get quality shots.)

They amazingly have a piano in the upstairs reading room and they encourage people to simply come up and play whatever. I was treated to several impromptu jazz concerts while reading, which was the perfect capstone to my week in Paris.
The flight back was okay, once I boarded. Before that, it was a nightmare. I waited in line for security for half an hour, at which point I was told to go to the back and wait again (another flight needed to get through before me). I managed to get onto the plane five minutes before it took off.
But even when I landed down in Dublin, my vacation was not over. I didn't get to the train station in Dublin until eleven in the evening. Since it was a Sunday, there was no late train to Maynooth. I had to spend one last night in a nearby hostel before I made it back. On the bright side, this hostel offered soda bread as part of its free breakfast. Also, everyone spoke English, something I won't quite take for granted so much anymore.

Thanksgiving dinner recipes

I'll be cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner for my flat and some friends. I've never basted a turkey in my life before, so if someone could post instructions on that I would be grateful.
Also for from-scratch pancakes.
And pumpkin pie.

Paris, mardi et mercredi

Waking up Tuesday morning, I bade my fellow couchsurfers a fond adieu and left to do some more touristing. After taking the train back, I saw the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars, the park sprawled out in front of said tower. Here's your obligatory picture:

It was much taller than I expected it to be. I didn't pay the nine euros to get a good view - I'd rather have breakfast instead. Pan au chocolat, of course.
I walked by Les Invalides and was searching for the Seine. Unfortunately, I had confused the locations of Les Invalides with the Eiffel Tower, so finding the Seine was quite a bit more of an adventure than it should have been. It was all worth it, though. The Seine might be my favorite part of Paris.

It was an excellent time of year to be in Paris. Almost every tree had started changing colors.

I walked to Ile de la Cite. I had to meet up with Vio, another couchsurfer, in an hour. Until then, I chilled out on the park on the very tip of the island and did some quality peoplewatching.

Vio was not my next host, but a "coffee or drinker." As a couchsurfer, you don't necessarily have to let someone sleep over to host them. Another option the website gives is to simply meet up with surfers for a "coffee or drink" and show them around your town a little bit.

We meet at the huge glass pyramid in the Louvre. From there, we decided to go to Montmarte. Since it was a nice day, we rented a couple bicycles. (In Paris, there are random, automated bicycle rental stations. Using a credit card, you can rent a bike for a euro per hour. These stations are located all over the city, so it really is a convenient way to get around.) Riding a bike through Paris was an exceptional experience - I'd recommend it to any visitors.
Anyone who has been in Paris can tell you that Montmarte is on top of a really high hill. When we finally reached the bike station, there were no other bikes present (each station has space for fifteen bikes).
On top of Montmarte is the Bascillica de la Sacre Coeur, the big white church. Really beautiful inside. Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries and I'd only be able to take pictures sporadically from this point on. There was a beautiful view of Paris right outside Sacre Coeur (and it was free!) We had some crepes for a snack, stopped by the Moulin Rouge, then found an Australian pub. After a few drinks, we parted ways. I was staying in another hostel that night, so I showed up, stumbled through some French phrases, and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the free breakfast offerred was especially classy. Instead of cornflakes, they had a crazy frakencereal - half oatmeal, half Fruit n Fiber. They also gave away milk. Since I was far more aware of Parisien prices, I had three bowls for breakfast (plus the bread). Sated, I was off to go see Les Invalides, the military museum.

Les Invalides was one of my favorite parts of Paris. They had extensive exhibits on WWI and WWII, military artefacts from the thirteenth century onward (like the arms and armor room in Cleveland's Art Museum, but an couple orders of magnitude larger), Napolean's Tomb, and the Cathedral Saint-Louis

Behind this main part of the cathedral, there was a special room for royalty. This way, they could attend the same mass as the common soldier. The sentiment was overwhelming.

After spending the day in Invalides, I met up with Julien, my host for the remainder of the week. He found a cheap bar and we had a few pints before meeting up with Micheal, an English surfer for the first night I was there. We found more beer and falafel crepes. A good night by any standard.

Paris, dimanche et lundi

It's been almost a week since I've had Guinness. That makes me a sad panda. The weather was really nice today. A good thing, except that it made me want to go for a run.
I'm getting a little cabin fever :)

Back to Paris.

I woke up Sunday morning and enjoyed my free breakfast - cornflakes (no milk), bread, and orange juice. Yum. Since I wasn't meeting my first host until five o'clock that day, I signed up for a free walking tour starting outside the hostel. First thing we did on the walking tour was take the metro to St. Micheal's fountain. Apparently, the real tour would start here.

The tour was given in English, so it was pretty easy to meet people. I grabbed a sandwich with some Brazilians and another American. It was a sub sandwich, but with chevre (goat cheese) and chorizo. Quite good. After that, the tour started.


We walked from St. Micheal's Plaza across the Seine to the Ile de la Cite. We didn't see Notre Dame, but we did get a history lesosn on Paris. We crossed Pont Neuf to the other side of the Seine.

You might be able to make out the faces on the bridge above. Apparently, King Henry IV had a party on the bridge after it was completed. A sketch artist had drawn pictures of this. The king liked the pictures enough to commision sculptures of his friends to be placed on the bridge. It's kinda like a facebook for seventeenth-century royalty.

We walked along the Seine some more. It's one of my favorite parts of Paris - it's banks are lined with artists selling their pictures. Touristy? Very. Fun? You bet. After stopping for lunch, we walked around the outside of the Louvre.

The Louvre is absolutely huge - this is just a picture of the one of the walls of the square inner courtyard.

I might not have mentioned this yet, but it was absolutely beautiful weather in Paris almost the whole week. Living in Ireland for the past month, I had pretty much forgotten what sunshine feels like. That week should get me through until I get back :)

After the Louvre, we walked through Jardin de Tuilleries, a beautiful park. There wasn't much grass in the park, which was a tad strange. As were the statues.

It was an odd juxtaposition of classical sculpture right next to these weird alien heads. I liked it.

There was an awesome fountain / pond in the middle. Cymbols covered half the pond, and people (read: tourists) would toss rocks, change, or small children at them.

We next walked through the Place de la Concorde, filled with fountains and statues and the Obelisk. The Obelisk is a little unique among the Egyptian works in Paris. Most things from Egypt were "given" to Napolean after he conquered Egypt. ("This man has conquered our armies, killed our men and our leaders, and was shamed us all. Quick! Give him our national treasures, along with the last of our dignity!") The Obelisk actually was a gift from Egypt. If I remember correctly, it was for returning most of the treasure and artefacts taken from Egypt.

The Place de la Concorde leads directly into the Champs-Elysees. I was a little underwhelmed by this.
Yeah, it looks nice. Further along, there are shops where a jacket sells for more than I make in a year. Needless to say, I didn't do much shopping. The Champs-Elysees ends with the Arc de Triomphe (as did the tour).

Apparently, the roundabout around this is amoung the worst in Europe, with a car crash happening every half hour.

It was almost time to meet up with Christophe, my first host for the week. I hopped on the metro to Montparnasse. This district has Tour Montparnasse, the tallest and most hated building in Paris. After this fifty-story building was erected, laws were passed to stop any more skyscrapers from popping up in the city proper.

It turns out that Christophe was hosting two others for the nights I would be there. Philip and Maeve were a couple from Ireland backpacking their way towards a farm co-op in southern France, where they would spend two months working and practicing their French. We went out for food and drinks. I ordered the "Aussiette de viande froid." Although I knew what it meant (Plate of cold meat), I expected it to be much better than the translation suggested. I was disappointed.

Christophe lives in Saint Cyr, which is a suburb forty minutes away by train. We bought picnic supplies and had a typical French dinner when we got back (wine, bread, cheese, pate). Quite a day.

Monday morning, Philip, Maeve, and I went to a flea market on the East side of Paris. There were all manner stalls, tents, even people with goods on a towel on the ground. Although the market spanned several blocks and a park, I was still unable to find a good hat (the tragic story of my life).

We met up with Christophe for drinks while Philip went to a drumming class. I had a few good Belguim beers and good times. Afterwards, we did a little shopping and went back to Saint Cyr. Maeve and I made some potato / tomato stew along with red pepper and wilted spinach. We hung out with Christophe and his roommates again that night, listened to some music, and fell asleep once more.

Paris, le premier soir

I went to the doctor today. I've had a cough for the last month or so (although it got better for a week in October). I've been diagnosed with tracheitis, a non-serious bacterial infection. I'm on a course of amoxicillin for a week. Worse yet, I can neither exercise nor drink for that week. My evenings were just canceled :(
On the bright side of things, I should be ready for our volleyball game in Dublin next week.

But on to Paris. I had planned on couchsurfing my way through Paris. However, I wasn't able to find a host for Saturday or Tuesday night, so I would be in a hostel both times.
I should probably explain what couchsurfing is. It's kinda like a facebook for people looking to meet people from other cultures. But you actually meet up in real life, so there's more of a sense of community. You can either be a host or a surfer. If you are a host, you offer up a couch / bed / sleeping bag in your house for the surfers to sleep on. Although hosts don't have to do anything else, most hosts try to show the surfer something about the city. One of my favorite parts about surfing was that my hosts were able to show me cool parts of Paris - hole-in-the-wall restaurants, music shows, and cheap bars. (It's important to know where you can get a three euro pint in Paris, where most places charge six or more euros. Paris est tres chere.) The hosts can act as free tour guides, either showing you around the city or suggesting where to go. You get much more than the typical tourist experience through them. And the hosts are genuinely happy to meet you, spend time with you, and learn about you and your culture.
And it seems really safe as well. There is a farily elaborate reference system on the website, so you can check out a person before you host them or surf with them (really important for dealing with strangers).
Another bonus is that it's much cheaper as well :) I spent less than two hundred euros for nine days in Paris, and sixty of those were for two nights in a hostel. That really works out to about fifteen euro per day for Paris - not bad.

Anyways, I took Ryan Air over to Paris. Ryan Air is notoriously cheap, but just as inconvenient. I was able to get a round-way flight for 70 euros (plus thirty for the shuttles). Of course, the plane left at night and landed an hour away from the city (Beauvais airport). I didn't arrive in the city until midnight and made it to my hostel around one o'clock (I got lost on the streets only once :)
I must admit I was a bit nervous then. I was walking around an unknown city at night, and everyone speaks French. Although I've been improving my French for the last month or so, I still was far from fluent or even converstational. Before I say anything, I'd have to think for half a minute or so. So before I wandered into St. Cristopher's (my hostel), I had my conversation lines well-rehearsed (J'amapelle Josh Galecki. J'ai un lit ici ce soir.) Unfortunately, or fortunately, the hostel clerk was English. I'd have to wait until tomorrow for my first French "conversation." I stumbled up the stairs and promptly fell asleep.

Good craic, not good crack

I just got back from Paris this morning (safely) and will be doing a series of posts about that later on this week.

Also, craic is Irish slang for good times, not the drug. "How's the craic?" is a fairly common greeting.

Galway Weekend, Part II

Before we get back to the trip, the volleyball team played its first game today against Cork IT. We won in three games and had delicious sandwiches afterward :)

Saturday's weather was really nice, so it was a shame we had to spend seven on buses. There's no direct route from Wexford to Galway, so we had to connect through Dublin. Once we arrived, we were pretty hungry (it was about ten or twelve hours since we had breakfast.) We found a restaurant called Fat Freddy's, which turned out to be a nice Mexican / Italian place. Seriously. They served enchiladas with garlic bread. I would describe their Mexican-Italian mascot as a horribly offensive stereotyped charicture, if such a stereotype did exist. I ordered a Mexicano pizza (which was delicious). I don't remember what Arlette had.

After dinner, we almost immediately ran into some classmates of Arlette who happened to take the trip as well. We found a nice Irish pub and spent the night drinking in front of another trad band (you can't shake a stick without finding a pub with a trad band.) Don't worry, Mom - these guys were seminarians. We sat down next to an Irish kayaking / mountain climbing instructor and his English girlfriend. We were instant friends.


(From right to left: Me, Arlette, and my future ticket into heaven.)


The five of us from Maynooth.


Good craic that night. The next day, I left for a day tour towards the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped on the way there and back at random places, such as this castle.





We were mostly driving along the coast (in the Burrens), so there were plenty of good views of the ocean.

The Burrens comes from a Gaelic word meaning "place of rocks." I had at least twenty pictures of rocks, hills with rocks, cows amoungst rocks, etc. A few hours later, we arrived at the cliffs. They were awe-inspiring.

Of course, it starts raining right when we arrive. Hurray for Irish weather.

They had signs helpfully informing people not to jump off posted every fifty feet.

If you look closely at the top of the cliffs in this picture, you can make out tiny people. Just to give you a sense of scale.

My travelling companions for the day: Laure, Samia, and Muhammad. Note the wind.

After the cliffs, we stopped by to see a dolmen (actually, the first picture in the article) and a cave. They were not impressive. After the tour came back, we took the bus back to Maynooth. I was quite exhausted by the whole weekend and promptly fell asleep.

Galway Weekend, Part 1

I was really looking forward to this trip. As Arlette and I boarded the bus on Friday, we were talking about how the weather was supposed to be amazing - cloudy and sunny. Arlette even packed her sunglasses. We were ready for the Galway trip.

This is not Galway.

It turns out that Arlette and I managed to get on the wrong bus. Since neither of us knew anyone in the International Club that sponsored the trip, we didn't find out about this until the bus kicked us off in Wexford. We went three hours south instead of three hours west.

I thought the situation was hilarious, but Arlette was a little more flustered. We found a cozy little B&B to check into and then went to a nice seafood restaurant. We then found a pub with a trad band and enjoyed a couple of pints.

The band was very into the Irish patriotism thing. Lots of hatred towards Britain and all that.

We had a very Irish breakfast the next morning - eggs, pudding, ham, hash browns, and a tomato. We decided to take a walking tour of Wexford before we left for Galway. The tour started on the town quay, an area right around this statue.

This is John Barry, who helped found the American Navy during the Revolutionary War. There are a lot of ties between the two countries.

Also, you can see a sign post on the street corner to the right of the statue. The sign pointing towards the statue reads, "John Barry Statue."


Pictures of the harbor. You might notice that the sky is blue. That's how nice the weather was this weekend.



There's really only two streets in the city and less than 20,000 people, but it still feels like a city. More so than, say, Mentor.

Wexford was originally two settlements. One half was Christian and the other half Viking. Seriously. This is part of Kaiser Road, which comes from Viking for "Road to the Sea."



Part of the town wall and the western gate. Most of the land trade routes came through this gate.

I was a little suprised at how small the wall was. I don't think it was more than fifteen feet high, at the most. Clearly, Vikings are more talented at pillaging than at defense.


Two chruches, built right next to each other. The spikey one on the left was the more modern one, but the congregation died out in the 1950s. They decided to tear the roof off and call the site a ruin so they wouldn't have to pay taxes.

The walking tour was very interesting and gave us a good feel for the city. Afterwards, we took a break at one of the cafes then left for Galway.

Je suis malade

I was viciously attacked by some sort of cold last week. I decided to stay home from the Glendalough trip to recuperate. Sorry, no pictures. Of Glendalough or the cold.

It's my turn to cook this week, but we'll be eating tomorrow on account of me being in Galway until Sunday night. I've decided to do beef stroganoff and corn tomorrow. For dessert, I'm showing everyone how to make s'mores (unfortunately, we'll have to substitute something for the graham crackers.)

I've actually been getting some hardcore studying done lately. It's all for French though, not really for any of my classes. It's almost been a month since school started and I've had to do one homework assignment the whole time. There are also zero tests or quizzes in class, except for finals.
Not that I'm complaining, of course.

Clubs are starting to pick up. I have my first fencing meeting tonight and my first equastrian meeting tomorrow. I'm particularly excited for these two - I guess they seem more European. Unfortunately, the karate club doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. I might go to the self-defense classes then, since they use some kenpo.

I had Supermacs for the first time this weekend. Their cheese-flavored sauce was delicious. They definately rank above McDonalds and BK, maybe just behind Wendys.

I don't keep too much of a stock of food around. I go shopping every two or three days and just pick up enough for a dinner or two. It's kinda fun. Plus, I can pick up fresh bread everytime I go out (If you ever have a chance to try "Wheaton Farls", take it.)

Älplermagronen

Back at Dayton, our house had a tradition of cooking and sharing a meal once a week. I decided to bring that over here, and my flat seemed excited about it. Since we represent four different cultures, it would be a great way to broaden our horizons (and our bellies). We've all agreed to try to cook foods representative of our countries (you know, the traditional stuff).
Arlette cooked Alplermagronen Sunday night and it was delicious. It was the first time I've had a pasta / potato dish, but it worked together excellently. We also had homemade applesauce, lox on toast, and muffins for dessert (although muffins aren't quite Swiss).
I'll be cooking beef stroganoff in a few weeks (if one of my parents could post the recipe, that'd be swell.) I'll be cooking a Thanksfiving dinner as well, which everyone is already looking forward to.

Friday night, Arlette and I ate at McDonalds. My curiousity was piqued about McDonalds when we went to Dublin. The Mickey D's over there looked really nice. Almost like a restaurant. The food ended up being the same (except the fries were a little less salty). I was a bit dissappointed.

I was in history class (Ireland Since the 1800s) and the professor was talking about how Robert Peel tried to fragment the massive Catholic support Daniel O'Connell had in Ireland. One of the ways Peel did this was by donating large amounts of money to the bishops and to Maynooth, which at the time was a Catholic seminary. It felt pretty cool that the University had a historically significant role.

This past Wednesday was Clubs and Societies Day, similar to Up The Orgs back at Dayton. I've decided to join quite a few. I'm now in clubs for fencing, volleyball, and karate, as well as the International Club and equestrian club. I'm in an American Kenpo class that meets on Saturdays (small world), and I've also joined the volunteer society (I have no idea just what they do yet.) I might still join either the boxing club or the hurling club, depending on how all the schedules work out.

Pop quiz! In the equation y = 50 - 2x, what is the slope of the line? If you answered, "50", you might be my microeconomics TA! Luckily, some other students and I were able to inform the rest of the class why this is incorrect. I think we convinced everyone but the TA herself.
Yes, my microeconomics class is spending a week on the interpretation of graphs of linear equations. Another excellent reason to skip that class.

The weekends here are very peaceful. When I earlier said most Irish kids go home, I guess I meant all Irish kids go home. The campus is a ghost town during the weekends. Well, almost. There's a large (thirty or forty) group of students from St. Mary's studying here. While they usually have a day trip, we usually hang out afterwords.

Speaking of travelling Ireland, the International Club is starting their trips next weekend. Here's what my next month looks like:
10th (Saturday): day trip to Glendalough with the International Club
16th - 18th: weekend trip out west to Galway, again with the International Club.
23rd-31st-ish: Paris, during study week. No link should be necessary.
6th - 8th: After our flat's been back for a week, we're going to head up to Belfast.

Looks like I won't quite be getting the peace and quiet on the weekends anymore :)

Euro Trip

About a month from now, we get a "study week," which is a week of no classes. I figured this would be the perfect time to not study at all and go somewhere in Europe. Although I wanted to visit Spain, I know next to no Spanish. So that's out.
I do have an amazing command of the French language, thanks to three years of coasting on my sister's coattails at NDCL. Right now, I'm looking at either Paris, Marseille, or Montpelier. Marseille is my top option right now, but we'll have to see which flights are the cheapest :)
And so begins my blitzkrieg on the French language, relearning as much as I can this next month. Fortunately, Arlette is almost as good at French as she is at English, so I have a conversation buddy.

Accommodation:

I'm living in Rivers Apartments, one of three on-campus accommodations provided by NUI Maynooth. My apartment building (Erne) is three stories high, with three apartments per floor (I'm on the ground floor, which made moving in really easy. It was even easier considering I only had two suitcases and a backpack.) Each apartment has a hallway, five rooms, and a common room. The rooms themselves are smallish - about the size of a room in Founders or Stuart. All of the rooms are singles and we all get our own bathrooms. (Although the bathrooms are pretty tiny. My shower is a pipe coming out of the ceiling and a drain on the floor.) The common room has a few couches, a coffee table, a dining table, and a kitchen. We've got a stove, microwave, fridge, and high-tech kettle (for the tea, of course).

I really like the way they serve the tea in Ireland. Thomas, one of my roommates, demostrated the proper Irish way - adding sugar and milk. It's quite delicious.

I'm rooming with two Irish guys (Thomas and Kevin), a guy from China (Hawkins is his English name), and a girl from Switzerland (Arlette). Arlette and Kevin are working on their masters, Hawkins is in his third year, and Thomas has just started college (although he is 24 years old, instead the standard Irish 17). Thomas has a real infectious enthusiasm for the whole college experience, but we'll see how long that lasts :) He's majoring in music (vocals, guitar, and sax) and I get to borrow his guitar. We also jam together every so often (me on guitar and him on saxophone).
The cultural exchange that happens with us is something unique and enjoyable. Fun fact for the day: American culture - the accent, the sports, the music, the food - are all very popular in China, particularly amoung the youth.

Campus and Classes

This was my first week of classes. I've been pretty busy, as you might imagine. I did manage to find time for a photo tour of campus. Hurray!


This is the apartment building where I live.




Pope John Paul II and his library. People here are crazy for the guy. The Pope John Paul II Society has even more members than the Harry Potter Appreciation Club.


The Aula Maxima. Lots of musical performances in here.


The campus chapel. Currently unused except for the Christmas choir concert. It's really beautiful inside.















A poorly shot panorama of St. John's Square in the middle of South Campus (the cool, old part of campus). I only have one class (History) down here.



A few shots of Maynooth Castle, which is about twenty feet off campus. It's not that impressive these days, as only the keep and the gatehouse remain intact.


I'm taking six classes this semester (the equivalent of 15 credit hours in the States). Mostly, I'm taking gen eds, but there are a few classes related to my majors.

Advanced Topics in Computer Science - This is the topic I'm most excited about. Every six lectures, a different professor comes in and teaches a subject they currently do research with. I'll be learning about things like information theory, multiple view geometry, and other cool things.

Graph Theory - Higher level math. Seems like a lot of fun so far.

Microeconomics - The teacher reads Powerpoint slides for an hour. Luckily, these slides are available online.

Biological and Developmental Psychology - Seems like an interesting topic (and definitely an interesting professor). However, I think this class will be the least useful to me, career-wise.

The Irish Sociological Imagination - Although we'll be examining a few Irish issues, this class isn't as focused on the Irish as I expected.

Ireland Since 1800 - This class, on this other hand, is. I haven't been to this one yet. This lecture is only once a week and I had to miss the first class so I could register for classes. Did I ever say that Maynooth does things at the last minute? I meant they do it a few minutes afterwards.

Interestingly, Maynooth does not seem to be a liberal arts college. You sign up for a 'major' and your classes are almost exclusively in that subject area. Internationals are exempted from this, but it means I'm taking most of my classes with freshmen. Ever been in a lecture theater with two hundred kids fresh out of high school?

Luckily, I was never like that :)