Dun Laoghaire

On the East Pier of Dun Laoghaire

This afternoon Stevie, Stacy, Brittany, Laura and I went on a little trip to the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced "dun leery"). I am fairly certain they could have done without at least four of those letters, but then again the name makes it look exotic. Perhaps LaGrange should add a couple letters too... It was a beautiful sunny day and it was about 25 minutes south of campus on the bus. There are not really any "attractions" in Dun Laoghaire other than the seaside views and I have provided you with some here. The last few days have been fairly photo-free so enjoy these!

I take pictures of cute things.

Harbor

We walked down the east pier and although it seem short it took us quite a long time because we had to stop and take pictures about every 4 meters (I'm learning metric!)

Gazebo on the pier. As we were walking back here were two men playing a sax and an accordian here.

Tiny sailboats

The picture is super dark but I really liked the clouds and the texture of the water. Grace should hop over the pond so she can do a professional job.

The pier and the steeples with the Wicklow Mountains in the back.

Streets of Dun Laoghaire. Quite a cute little town.

After about 3 hours in Dun Laoghaire we headed back to campus and then went to go have dinner with one of Laura's friends who is attending Trinity, which is right in the city centre of Dublin. We hung out there for a while and then headed over to a friend of Laura's friend's place to meet up with some more people. At about 11 Brittany and I headed home. The buses stop running around 11:15 and we didn't want to pay for a taxi so there was a lot of power walking involved to get to the bus stop in time.

Tomorrow is going to be another adventure for the U of I girls (Stacy, Stevie, Brittany, and me) because we are taking a daytrip to Galway, which my guidebook claims is the most Irish town in Ireland. I can only hope this means that leprchauns serve me Lucky Charms, potatoes, corned beef, and whiskey while I watch Riverdance but I anticipate no Lucky Charms. We're leaving Dublin at 10, riding 4 hours there, and then checking out Galway for the day. We are going to stay pretty late so we can catch the live music and the pub scene. I will try to post all my photos and stories sometime Sunday, but I am planning on going to the horseraces and I may have bet my computer and lost so we'll see if I can.

Grocery Shopping in Ireland

Thursday I am blessed enough not to have class, so Brittany and I ventured the 1.5 miles to the Tesco to pick up some food. I had pretty much finished up my first crop of groceries and was in need of some cookies. If you have ever been a cookie aisle at the Jewel, you know that there are about a dozen brands of cookies (maybe more) and each brand has about 10 varieties. This does not hold true in Ireland. You can buy Oreos, but other than that it is mostly "digestive biscuits." I hear that they taste ok, so Hob Nobs: The Digestive Biscuit might show up on my grocery list next time. Here are some other differences I encountered:

• No canned soup. There actually are a few cans of soup, but nothing like the wall of Campbell's in America. I could not find a beef vegetable soup, and it is always soup weather in Ireland.
• Frosted Flakes are called Frosties. Who knew? There are also not a lot of cereal brands that are popular in the US, but I got some Honey Loops which I enjoy.
• Cheese and Onion flavoured potato chips (or crisps) are all the rage. Or at least I think they are because that is the prominent flavour I've seen.
• Cheese comes in two colours: red and white. It is just white cheddar or yellow cheddar. I bought some white cheese for sandwiches and will let you know how that goes.
• No grocery bags. This is not a bad thing; everyone is therefore forced to use reusable bags.

Here is the list of what I got because I'm sure my mother wants to know:

• yogurt
• milk
• stuff to make ham sandwiches
• frozen green beans
• pasta
• crackers (for peanut butter)

And Brittany and I got supplies to make tacos tonight. European Family Dinner!

Live Irish Music!

me, Stevie, Laura, Jen, Stacy, Brittany before going out

That's right. I finally got to hear some authentic Irish music in Dublin! How's that, you ask? Here's the story:

Wednesday night Stevie, Stacy, Brittany, and I all have "From Colony to Republic: The Making of Modern Ireland" from 6-8, which is just not an ideal time for a class. The class itself has some pretty interesting information, but right now the hardest part is keeping track of all the old Irish kings and pronouncing their names. Here are some examples:

• Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough) [pronounced MacMurra]
• Tigernán Ua Ruairc (Tiernan O’Rourke), King of Bréifne [pronounced Brefna]
• Derbforgaill (Dervla), wife of O’Rourke

Fun Fact: Although it is generally thought that names like Fitzgerald and Fitzgilbert are thought to be traditional Irish names, they are actually Anglo-Norman. Fitzpatrick is considered the only true Irish one.

We decided afterwards we would hang out at Laura and my apartment and then go to an international student party at a club called The Button Factory (Anyone remember that song from preschool? "My name is Joe and I work in a button factory..."). Now nightclubs aren't really my thing, but in an effort to meet new people and venture outside my comfort zone I decided to go. We had a lot of fun hanging out in Apartment 18 and then headed on the bus to the Temple Bar area. On our way to The Button Factory, we passed a bar with the sounds of traditional Irish tunes spilling out; it really made me feel like I was in Dublin.

We get to The Button Factory and there is no line outside and the place seems dead. I then suggest we go to have a drink at one of the pubs with the music we passed on the way there. We ended up at The Temple Bar, our new favorite hangout. Three men were playing live Irish music using a guitar, fiddle and accordian-like thing. It was amazing. Just so lively and beautiful and kinda made you want to dance a little jig. Now, of course, I don't have any pictures of it because I thought we were going to a nightclub that I wouldn't want pictures of. I do, however, promise that we had so much fun this won't be the last time we go listen to some Irish music, and I will get pictures and video then. Until then, I think I might just steal Brittany Metz's photos.

Everyone (Stevie, Brittany, Jen, Stacy, Laura, and I) had a great time. We met people (some French guys who were pretty wild, nice British guys, and some Irish people too), drank cider (I did not drink it, just tried some, and in my opinion it tastes like apple juice with yeast in it), laughed a lot, and listened to the traditional music that just put a smile on my face. The highlight for many of the girls was when they played "Galway Girl," which is apparently played in the film PS, I Love You. I need to see that movie now!

Classes

Three classes done for the first week and two more this afternoon. Here's the recap so far if you're interested:

Financial Institutions Management- This seems to be primary about financial regulation. It is taught by an Irish professor (who has ten children) and I would say about one third of the class is American. This week we talked a lot about what happened in Ireland when their economy started going downhill.

The EU and the Business Environment- This class may be a lot of work but learning about the EU can only be beneficial. We're learning about the EU and what it can and can't do, plus the pros and cons of having a supranational organization.Currently, the EU consists of 27 states, with Croatia and Turkey petitioning to become a part.

Cross-Cultural Management- I just had it this morning and, although it is at 9 am, it seems like a fun class. I am one of only 3 Americans and the class has 16 people counting me. I don't, however, think there are any Irish students in it. Actually, they are enrolled in it they just didn't show up. We have many French students, plus Australian, Spanish, Austrian, and one kid from the Netherlands. Today we talked a little about cultural differences and it should be a good class for discussions.

Right now I'm on my way to get a brouchure about taking Irish here. It's only a 6 week class and it could be fun, and I'll know how to use words like "craic" without sounding like a tourist.

On that same idea, I am trying to look more and more like a local as I settle in. There is one problem- everytime I open my mouth it is plain as day that I am from America. So I can either be an articulate American or a mute Irish. I'm working on a fake Irish dialect currently, but my best line is "they're after me lucky charms."

Immigration

Today I had quite an adventure; I had to register with immigration! Naturally, I was there forever.

I took the bus into the city today all by myself and then gave myself a pat on the back for actually getting there (I got back to campus too!). At 9:44 I got my number and there were 45 people ahead of me. They said it would take an hour. It, of course, took two. That's ok. They say wait 10 minutes for my card. It, of course, took 20. That's ok too. This is what really got me. They have me check the card to see if all the information is correct, and they have spelled my name wrong! "Majorie." Cut to 20 more minutes of waiting. I got out of there at 12:25ish. Now I know people once and a while make mistakes, but not only did they mess up my information, but two of my friends had the same problem! The information is all on our passports which they copy directly from. This just confirmed the fact that I will never live anywhere other than the US because I don't want to go through that again.

As I mentioned before, the American students had a little conselling session explaining the differences here. One of the differences is that people take there time. We have been warned not to get angry because then they just won't serve you at all. Well I saw it all play out today when I am waiting with probably 100 other people at the immigration office and one of the people working was texting! She got done with a customer, started texting, then two other women came over and they started chatting. And I was the next person up. I don't know if things would have played out different in the US, but I still have love for the Irish because today my bus driver said "top of the morning" after I said thank you.

The immigration office was by the famine memorial (donated by the people of Canada?) so I took advantage and saw that. It for sure evoked an emotion from me. It isn't exactly what I would call a beautiful memorial, but rather one that showed the suffering of the Irish people. I am glad I made the trip. (You might want to click to enlarge to get more of the details and the facial expressions.)

First Day of School

Pond on campus

Unlike everyone celebrating MLK Day, I started school today. Ok, I only had one class and it started at 3, but I still had to start school.

My only class was Financial Institutions Management, which will tranfer for my Finance degree. We talked about the problems with the Irish economy now. Ireland went from being the second poorest country in Europe to having the second greatest GDP. Now they have fallen on hard times like much of the world. One of the speakers at orientation said that this is the best time in the past 15 years to come to Ireland because its future is being decided now. There is a lot of talk about what happened to the Irish people when they had all this money, and how their priorities switched and they became less friendly.

So far classes really aren't that different from the US. My professor did arrive ten minutes late and his cell phone kept going off. I will keep you updated after I have a few more classes.

Considering the number of questions I get at ICS on how to print, I thought U of I had the hardest print release ever. False: UCD has the most complex printing system ever. It took me the whole day to print a bank statement proving I have enough money to stay in Ireland (one has to show they have at least 1000 euro to pass immigration). I had to get a card, which I later find I couldn't use unless my document was on a USB, fill my other card (the machine kept rejecting my money!), get a password, and finally print. Brittany had to get special software installed to print her stuff. I'm thankful I don't work at these computer labs or I would never be able to beat Mario Bros level 8 during work with all the people asking me how to print.

Computer Issues

So I broke my AC adapter. My father's advice before I left was "don't panic," so immediately I panicked. It was kinda like Apollo 13 because immediately I turned off anything that would use up the power quickly on my laptop. I brought the screen brightness down, closed programs, and set the mode to power saver. I then went about finding a new power adapter. This was harder than you would think.

I called Dell UK first. They said that they would order a cord for me after being on hold for about 15 minutes. When I asked if I could possibly get that cord with an American plug, they transferred me to Dell US. This would have been fine had Dell US not been closed Sunday. I then tried to find a computer lab on campus, but everything is closed on Sunday. It's about 1 pm now, so 7 am in Chicago, and calling home was not an option. Instead I went on a walk to the seashore with Brittany. Hey, I'm in Dublin, who cares if I can't charge my laptop?

I taped my cord together with electrical tape. Of course it's green.

The shore was about 2 miles away from the residence halls, so roundtrip was about two hours. We walked to the village of Booterstown. It was a lot cuter than Dublin Bay, which was just rather dirty. It was a beautiful sunny day and got my mind off the computer dilemma.

When I got back I called my father and just decided to buy the European plug; after all, I have a dual converter :) When that was done I went to work trying to somewhat fix the plug. I got to a point where I can charge the computer while holding the plug in place, so my laptop is still somewhat functional until the new adapter gets here, which they tell me will take ten days! It's being shipped from the UK, so how long can that really take?

Right now I am on a computer in the UCD lab. One thing I did not expect coming to Ireland was that the keyboards would be different. They are not significantly different, but when I was typing my email address from motor memory I got mclairefisher"gmail.com. The " and @ are changed! A few other keys are also changed, and of course they have symbols like £ and the euro sign, which right now I cannot figure out how to use.

I have my first class in about an hour, so we'll see how that goes.