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[Jan. 24th, 2006|02:28 pm] |
Hey everyone. More pics from the last couple months, though Facebook gave me more room for captions so check out my album there too if you're, you know, cool enough to be on Facebook:
http://photobucket.com/albums/c265/hthomp/Ireland%20Dec-Jan/
Jesus, I've been busy. Alli and Brian came to visit for about a week and a half over new years. We went out to Cobh (pictured) where the Titanic stopped before um sinking. It's a cool little coastal town but I think nothing was really open that day except a little fish and chip shop where we went for lunch. We spent a lot of time at the Spailpin Fanach (also pictured), which the Lonely Planet claims is the oldest pub in ireland. The spailpin is also where the singer's club meets every sunday. I sang 'Pretty Saro' there in like October and I still go whenever I can. Singer's club is basically what Marlboro tries to be but doesn't know it-- a bunch of old fogeys sitting around together singing folk songs so they aren't forgotten. The HIGHLITE of the visit, and I'm sure they'd agree, was like the 29th or 30th when I brought Alli and Bri to meet the lads at Loafers (the gay bar of infamy):
Scene 1: Kim has taken Mary to the bathroom, leaving Irene with the three Americans. Alli tries to make conversation about movies. Sometimes, when two people are feeling awkward, they say things they don't mean.
Irene: "I've never seen the Wizard of Oz"
Alli: "Well, that makes sense. I mean, it's an American classic, why would you? I'm sure you guys have your own classic movies like Potato Farmer Goes to the Bar"
...we left shortly thereafter.
It's still funny though.
The next couple weeks I'd sworn off drinking and other vices so that I could get my metaphorical ducks in a row for the next semester. I'm psyched about my classes-- I'm NOT continuing with irish gaelic, but I am taking a couple of archaeology classes, a class about women in medieval ireland, and, of course, early Irish. Speaking of, I skipped the first session of that class today. I found out from Tim that non-plan class grades won't show up on my transcript, so no one will ever have to know how much I am never going to be a medieval manuscript translator. The other classes are going well though!
Right before Christmas I lost my passport which SUCKED ASS A LOT and sent me from Cork to Limerick back to Cork then up to Dublin all in the span of 14 hours. I had to get a temporary passport at the US embassy so that I could leave the country and get home for the holiday. Anyway, two weekends ago I headed up to Dublin again to get my permanent passport, and decided to break up the trip by spending the weekend in Kilkenny. I dug Galway last October or whenever, but Kilkenny is even better I gots to say. It's a medieval town on the east coast with a norman castle (pictured) and more churches, cathedrals, and abbeys than I even knew what to do with. The youth hostel I stayed in was way sweet. It was right downtown in a converted Georgian house with Yeats quotes scrawlled on the walls of the stairwell and pre-raphaelite art in the kitchen (pictured). Packing as many people into one room is the cheapest, so I ended up staying up late chatting with the other 5 girls in my room. One of them was esp chill-- an Austrailian snowboard instructor who's just finishing up 3 months 'on walkabout'. We talked about how cool it is to be a chick travelling by yourself cause you can do whatever the hell you want to as long as you aren't stupid about it. She recommended a skydiving place in Scotland I should check out. Dig.
The next two nights I was in Dublin, and did the whole museum circuit that I hadn't gotten to on my previous visits. I also did a guerrila fashion shoot in Marks and Spencers. Casually as you please and trying to look as loaded as I possibly could in my jeans and canvas jacket I tried on my first, and probably only, Gucci suit. Silk pants, tie, shirt, and jacket which came to a wopping 1050 euro (that's a freakin' 1200 dollar suit. fuck yeah). I have pictures, though not online. They're hot in that androgenous, gender-ambiguous-and-wearing-Gucci kind of way.
Last weekend I went with the Archeaological society up to County Mayo and stayed on Achill Island. Mayo is physically the most beautiful part of Ireland that I've been to so far-- huge rolling mountains meeting the ocean, and an eery slanted light. We spent all of Saturday looking at ruins, spending the most time at the Deserted village (I think this is picuted). It's a settlement that's been inhabited on and off since the early medieval era with an anachonistic mesolithic tomb in the middle. I got a chance to chat with Teresa, our guide from the research school there and she got me really excited about it. I'm still hammering away at summer plans, but since my visa extends until September I could consievably stay here in Ire this summer. If I do, I'd have to stay somewhere in the country and I can't imagine any more beautiful a way to spend a summer than up in Mayo.
The 19th was our pink haired friend's 24th birthday. Actually, her hair is now black with red streaks so really it's far past time to update her name. I met this Canadian chick there and we discovered our mutual facination with religious post-menstrual female purification rituals (her with Budhism, me with early Christianity [what the hell are the chances of this?]). She's a grad student working on a masters in Montreal but taking the year off to hang out here before possibly heading over to India for the summer. Sparks flew. I should also mention that she's, um, 31. No immeadiate plans to see her again, especially since one of my new years resolutions was to not date for a while, but you never know.
Whew! So that's about it. I did a lot of job applying a couple weeks ago but nothing really panned out so I'm looking into volunteer opertunities. Deanshall, where I live, is right across from St Finnbar's Cathedral and next door to a nunnery. The nuns run an english language school for immegrants to Cork and they need volunteer teachers. I start Friday, wish me luck! I've gotten involved with the One World Society (the hippy, fairtrade, organic society) and picked up an application this morning to volunteer in the Ox-Fam store downtown. At the meeting last night they told us about a proposed bike trip for charity around the Dingle Penninsula in March. Oh, God! I'd already been planning to bike around Dingle this spring break, but if I do it with them I can ALSO raise money for charity? Shit, dude I'm there. Tomorrow is the second rugby match of the season up in Limerick (aka Stab City. hooray!) so wish us luck! |
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