Belfast

Hi Everyone-

I finished that Belfast post-if you go on to the right hand side down to the Blog Archive and click on November you will find one labeled Belfast. Click on it and you can read it and see some photos. Since I started that post in Nov. it is logged there and isn't seen currently so if you were wondering.

No worries I will be posting things about London, Rome, Snow Patrol Concert, end of the trip and coming home. So look for that post in a few more days.

That being said I wish you all a very Happy Christmas!! Promise to post more stuff soon-and yes I'm home now safe and sound :)

London and Rome

Hi Everyone!

So I'm going to give you a combined recap of London and Rome since London was the 20th of November to the 23rd and Rome was the 28th to the 1st of December. I did way too much traveling in November I was in Ireland probably 15 days out of the 30 of that month. Yes I took advantage of my time here pretty well to discover the continent. Though there are still a good number of places I haven't gone. And others that I want to return to explore more. I can't post up any photos just yet of these since my photo library program is down. However when I get home I'll fix it and post them for you to see. I just don't feel like calling tech support right now when I'll be home in a while. I know this post is long overdue but I've been pretty busy packing and getting the internet to work and I needed a few days to recover from all the traveling.

Claire came with me to London-we were going to stay with a elderly couple-John and Peg Vint. Peg was a native of Ireland but she married John a native Londoner. So Ireland and England finally were united in peace. :) John is pretty close to being 90 and I think Peg is pretty close to being in her 80s. Though the two don't really look much older than their 60s and move around very well for their age. I was a bit worried that driving around with them would be one of those hold your breath and hope to god you don't die experiences but they can drive like normal people and age hasn't caught up with them that they pull one of those scary driving things that your grandparents do that makes you want to take away their keys. We flew into London Heathrow which is a pretty big airport all things considered. We were picked up by John and Peg and we drove around the Windsor garden grounds, and through a few little old cute villages before heading to their house in Slough. Unlike the cracker jack box houses that are slapped together and hideous as can be in the states the houses here are small but each has their own individuality. All are very nice little houses. John and Peg were very kind to us to let us stay with them-we met them on the Aran Islands back in August and they offered to take us around London and told us to come visit them for a long weekend. I couldn't believe they'd actually were serious about it considering they just met us. But they became fast friends with us and yes there is that huge age difference but I seem to get along with people older than me pretty well. One of my friends tells me it's because I'm "such an old lady". Figures you go wandering about graveyards, knit and watch black and white movies and don't go out past midnight and you're pegged as an old lady for life. Oh well. I don't mind I never was one of those super trendy in the high fashion kids who only hung out with young people. I do spend time with people my own age but I find a lot of my friends are older. I know my roommate seemed to feel a bit awkward with it, not really knowing how much to share or not or how to really deal with the fact of a age difference to warrant a very different perspective on life. But they took very good care of us and showed us all the sites and I got a full history of the city and things in it. John thought he was rambling too much but I had no problem listening and asking questions of him. He was like one of those history audio books that never ended. I really liked it. Peg did the same but she told us a lot about Ireland since she knew more on that. In turn we told them about our lives and experiences. I tried mince pie for the first time, drank more tea than I ever had in one weekend, ate more food than I probably needed to in one sitting but it was all amazing. I really liked London-there was quite a bit of it I didn't get to see that I wanted to but that was fine I have something else to take me back again. I saw Windsor Castle, most of Slough, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, the Tower of London, Parliament, Big Ben (which is actually the name of Parliament but eventually was attached to the clock hence the name), went on the London underground, saw a good deal of Eaton, and went through numerous parks.

The Brits are pretty interesting on the whole, I didn't come across any telling me to go back home Yank or that they hate me for the Boston Tea Party so it appears they're pretty much over that now. Unlike some of our southern counterparts (hint hint subtle hint). They have loads of antique shops and ship out loads of it to the States for our own antique shops and still have plenty to fill up whole castles with and then some. But don't get me wrong I love antiques and it's probably a good thing I wasn't allowed any time to stop in there or I'd never have made it back to Ireland with all of the stuff I would want. If you ever wanted to know who came up with crazy uniforms I'd probably say the Brits because the boys going to school wear what you'd think looks like a tux to school. Or a conductor of an orchestra. One of the two. On the whole they're all very helpful and nice and always ask if you're on holiday if you're there. (That is if you're an American). I ran into some of the Queen's soldiers collecting donations for the troops and kids for Christmas so I donated all my spare change to them. I sort of wish they were around the airport before I left I had about 5 pounds worth in coins to dump off. Very polite and nice I felt bad for them in a way since in a week or so they had to ship out again and they'd be gone for Christmas. Funny thing though most of the English are more than ready to let Northern Ireland go.....

Rome: I never have been more freaked out going somewhere than Rome. Paris wasn't much of an issue because I was going to stick to the more touristy areas and the French know the value of an American dollar so they know enough French. The Romans well bless their hearts they still think they own the world in a sense. I'm sure not all Romans feel this way but most of the ones I ran into seemed to come off that way. Perhaps it's because the recession but either way I had never been around so many people that were just downright rude as the Romans. Even the ones harassing you to buy a umbrella when you told the guy just two steps behind him no was rude. And stay away from the guys dressed up as Roman gladiators if you don't want them trying to seduce you to be their next Roman princess. Or make you pay 5 euro for taking a photo with them. I can photoshop you in when I snap your photo from away into my posed photo. So I will keep my 5 euros thank you very much :) The Vatican was sort of my last stop I knew if I could walk in there and not be axed down for not being a proper practicing Christian I could go anywhere without worry. Of course I sort of forgot about the whole Pope-not-liking-Harry-Potter thing. Guess who walked up to the security thing wearing a Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince sweatshirt? Me. I almost thought if anything they'd have put that on the sign about dress codes since they already put you can't wear skirts or tshirts, have sharp blunt objects but you can carry a huge umbrella. I could've sworn NO HARRY POTTER would've fit in there somewhere. Emily noticed I was wearing it and was about ready to just up and leave me. She promised if I got kicked out she'd act like she had no idea who I was. I was definitely feeling her love....not really. I went through the security and they didn't say a thing in fact the guy running the machine was spacing out and the one watching the metal detector was smoking and talking on his cell phone. Great security. I feel bad for the nuns, priests and Pope. These guys are a joke.

I got in even with my Harry Potter sweatshirt-success! I started to think they either didn't notice or just didn't really give a flying flip. Either way I was happy I didn't have to attempt to have a discussion lost in translation in Italian since I don't know any. First off we went into the Pope's tomb-and they weren't kidding it is like a tomb. It is deep below the Vatican and holds the remains of Popes going back even before the 13th Century. All held in large marble or stone casings sealed shut for eternity. Each one appears to be larger than the next and more elaborate as to the designs and sayings on them. The more recent ones are massive and bodyguards stand by the latest Pope since they figure someone would want to get smart and try to steal the body. After going out of the Pope's tomb we ended up in this large open area where the Pope does mass and where Pope Peter is buried. He's got this massive wooden structure decorated in gold ivy and other designs looming over his tomb. I've never seen such large ceilings they had to be over 100 feet if not more. I felt like a tiny little thing there. Everything is covered in gold, marble, mosaic tiles, massive statues and paintings, phrases in Latin that I don't understand; the whole place was so lavish it was a bit overwhelming. We also went up over 600 steps I think in all it had to be about over a few thousand by the time we got back down. Though the view at the top was worth seeing even though it was quite windy. No tall sky scrapers just a lot of old rustic styled and those clay tiled roofs. The air was warm up there, certainly a lot warmer than it was back in Ireland. After getting back down again and feeling a wee bit lop sided from walking sideways down the stairs, we went into the big atrium area and took some more photos before heading on a few hour search to get to the Sistine Chapel. You'd think it would've been pretty easy to find when we found it labeled on the map. Oh no. Not the case. Even with signs that pointed to well nowhere, we still didn't find it. After asking directions we still didn't find it which makes me think the directions sucked just about as much as the map did. We came to the conclusion that it must've been housed through some other museum part and it required extra payment to see. We gave up and decided to walk around and see the Castle which appears in Angels and Demons. We saw a few super skinny super models doing a photo shoot on the bridge in massive dresses. I was thinking maybe a prom shoot but then again it wasn't anywhere near prom so maybe a really strange wedding dress. It was a pretty dress don't get me wrong but corsets are just bad news. After a few more hours of wandering and seeing the other sights of Rome like the Colosseum, Fountain de Trevi, the Pantheon and a few others the next day we got back on the plane and flew to Ireland over the Alps which was a very pretty thing to see. You want some snow capped mountains that trump all the others the Alps surely do that. After arriving back through the mists I saw the green rolling hills, spray painted bottomed sheep and knew I was back in Ireland. After that we hopped on a bus back to Galway and crashed. Success.

So that's London and Rome I know it's a bit shorter in the sense of not covering every detail but really it's a lot to cram in and make it short enough for all of you to read :)

I would like to take a moment to say I'm FREE

Hi Everyone-

Almost done with that Belfast post mind you it may decide to post itself earlier than the current date because I started it earlier so you may have to do a bit of back tracking to find it. Just go to the archive on the right hand side and it should be there once I've finished. I'll let you know when I do that.

Anyway I am officially done with NUIG. YAY!!!!!! I turned in my last paper today and now I am free to pack, clean, go visit a few friends before I leave and then as quick as a flash and a weird 7hr flight with some odd time warp I'll be home on the 21st!!! I know I know some of you are like why are you so happy to be done with school you love school, you love history, you're learning why are you soo happy to be done? Well for the simple reason that I want to be done. I've gone traveling the world and done my exploring and absorbed more than I have in any other semester, worked my bottom off in school, went to all of my classes save the last day and one day when I was finishing my term paper, and now that I've completed my work I deserve a break. Alright maybe that was not such a simple answer but you also have to remember I want to be home it's Christmas season and I miss my friends and family. Ireland isn't going anywhere so I have plenty of time to come back and visit later. I've lived here for 4 months and laid my foundation and it's time to go back to the states where I officially belong. Not that I don't fit in here pretty well though I haven't exactly mastered any great drinking skills or sheep herding skills, but that's besides the point. Now it is time to relax, relfect, finish those journal entries, get my video and photos in order and labeled before I forget where I was, work on my novel, pack and go home eat loads of cookies, go sledding and eat some steak and potatoes. And per the usual Chirstmas season drink lots of hot chocolate and egg nog.

So I am free though it isn't as epic as Mel Gibson in Braveheart yelling FREEDOM as loud as he can before having his intestines twisted out of him. Sorry I should've kept that a little less gruesome especially if you're eating....and I am ready to go back and be back in Beloit and the library and the archives and not feel like a weirdo walking around the house practicing my Russian-no one learns Russian in Ireland hence why I'm looked at weirdly. I would also like hot water for a shower for a change, it is the simple things in life you really learn to appreciate. And I still get called an old lady for knitting while watching a movie. Though they won't be laughing so hard when they realize it's their Christmas gift.

Well I hear the horn of Gondor blowing-no its actually the generator downstairs of the computer lab-calling me to go off and run my errands and go kick some computer geek butt for not fixing my friend's computer. It's sad when I have to fix the computer and I'm not even a certified Mac genius or Windows genius. I understand if they don't have the parts lying around or can't get fix things in an hour but really 3 weeks to even bother looking at the computer when you really just want to say I have no clue? You know the computer geek fixer is a fake when he dresses like he's out of a D&G catalogue and smells like the new manly scent from Beckham. Not that I'm really trying to say he's a bad person or anything people I'm not mean I'm just saying he can't fix a computer when he's too busy using the screen as a mirror for his perfectly gelled hair. It's Ireland there is wind and rain give up the perfect Ken doll hair it isn't going to work. Even I know that and I'm a girl.

Miss you all and I'll write again soon about Belfast, London and Rome so you'll be in for a nice big treat. Or so I hope.

Delayed

Hi Everyone

Alright well I know I'm behind on a few posts one about London, Belfast and now Rome. I'm sort of delayed or way laid as they say due to papers and just getting things in order since I arrive home in 19 days. I still have to get my suitcases back from my adoptive Irish family. Too sort of a family crisis is going on at home right now so I've been focusing my attention on what's going on since I'm the only one away and 6 hr time difference does not help for the need for instant communication. So I've been doing a lot of waiting to find out things. The long and short of it is my uncle died on thanksgiving morning due to a heart attack. The funeral is this week and I won't be heading home which after pondering it over is probably for the best because trying to drop all of my work and try and pack and go and come back or just stay gone would be too much. And I'd probably be falling asleep during the service from jet lag and the time change and that isn't very helpful for anyone. As a result I will be just spending the rest of my time here in Galway and just trying to relax, well that is after I finish papers and catch up on that 10 or so Russian homework assignments......

That being said once Wednesday rolls around my papers will all be done and turned in so I will hopefully have some extra time to catch up on some entries here as well as doing up some journal entries, visiting the lobsters in the aquarium in Salthill and going to see a cemetery in Galway. (Why a cemetery? Well if you've never seen an Irish one they're quite fascinating and very different from ones at home. For starters no one has giant shrines built to people alike some in cemeteries at home. I won't bore you with the other details at present until I'm done seeing the Galway one.)

I also want to know why I'm the only person sitting here in this study space during finals. I'm the only one! Did I miss some memo here that everyone was supposed to ditch finals or that they were all cancelled? If I recall finals=no study space. Strange......I'm starting to question my over ambitiousness of study. That or just question my insane study habits because if no one else around here gives a flying flip who says the profs really do? I tried 3 times to turn in a paper EARLY and they weren't there during office hours. I even asked them before hand if I could come those 3 times to drop it off. It just wasn't to be. The secretary even took off Friday without any warning and so my last chance to turn it in before I left was ruined. I even dragged myself out of bed-I was sick for 3 days and walked all the way to campus. I was tired, cranky and running a low fever and so in my frustration I emailed my professor explaining the situation and asked kindly if I could turn it in when I returned because apparently no one wanted me to turn it in early. He didn't care. He honestly was like sure and if you turned it in the day after I wouldn't have noticed because I don't pick them up until the day after that. You have to be kidding me. All of this posted nonsense of you must be physically there to turn it in and it must be time stamped was all for what purpose? You don't even care and wouldn't know-thanks. Just thank you for being so lax that I went 3 times to turn in a paper. I take it then the whole 'Late paper penalty' really doesn't exist. Unless it's what the last day of the term? As a prof in training I disprove. I disprove so much that I didn't use an extra staple to keep the 2 copies of my paper together and I didn't print out a third copy for myself. Take that.

If you want to know what the weather is like it is rain, rain, rain, a bit of sun, rain, windy and cold. If you're lucky it will not be horribly cold and rainy. I'm used to it now and don't mind though the roads are still flooding like the world is going to come to an end and we all need to build a giant arc and set sail down the Shannon River to safety. I'm not so sure if we'd be able to get two of every animal though....

In stores Christmas music is playing and signs are up saying Merry Christmas-no the Irish are not all PC and put things like Happy Holidays like us silly PC obsessed Americans. Don't get me wrong I'm all for being well mannered and not severely insulting people but a lot of people celebrate Christmas even if they aren't the same religion or even if it isn't for celebrating the birth of Christ. And let's be honest the majority of people in Ireland are Catholic or Methodist or Christian of some sort so they'd lean more towards Christmas anyway. I'm all for it actually because it means I don't have to stop mid sentence and be like oh yea Happy Holidays not Happy/Merry Christmas. Everyone is bustling about getting wrapping paper and gifts and I just wish I could be home making cookies and decorating the tree and watching little Christmas films. And dancing around the house to Christmas music. Yes I have one of those Christmas theme songs to dance to thanks to Harry Connick Jr called Happy Elf. I even have it as a ringtone on my phone. Though thankfully I don't get phone calls on that phone while I'm here so no one has to suffer watching my dancing. Or rather I don't have to suffer being looked at like an idiot. So says my sister and I'm sure my Mum secretly thinks the same but she at least is kind enough to just laugh at me and say I'm a goof. No I will not video tape said dance and show you I would like to retain some of my dignity at the end of the day. At least my singing is good enough not to be an embarrassment. That being said I keep walking around singing Christmas songs while washing dishes in the kitchen since it's the closest thing I have to Christmas at the moment.

I don't have snow or decorations because they're banned. Yes you read that right BANNED. Who bans decorations? Corrib Village. And during house inspection if they find it they will destroy it. I was very tempted to put up a note saying someone's being a bit Scrooge like this year aren't they.....but I can't be that mean to the little housekeeping lady. It's not her fault it's management. I know they don't like me very much anyway so there isn't any point in sending any more emails to them they don't care to listen to me. Yes I'm diplomatic about things when I email them but they just like to do the CYA with things. (CYA is a term my Dad told me a long time ago meaning cover your a$$). It's something I do myself by backing up my computer each day, but in the case of Corrib Village it's finding any loophole and jumping through it denying anything and blaming it on everyone but themselves. It's so bad that when I walk in to reception I get this look when my name is said to pick up some mail-'oh that's HER'. Of course it's the diplomatic yet won't stand for your rubbish lies American that you roll your eyes at and not my Irish roommate who has been in your office at least 8 times this semester to talk to you. Right. I see how it goes. But I kill them with kindness and it confuses them to the point as you walk out the door someone asks 'is that really HER? I mean it can't be she's just sweet as pie and doesn't have that diplomatic politic thing going on'. I'm sort of offended they think I can't be diplomatic and a very nice person and a student all at the same time. Sort of sad in a way. They must think I'm only 2 dimensional. Which is sad because I can do a lot of things and even after offering to help them with fixing the internet they still think I'm that way. Oh well they're loss to get free internet fixing labor.

On that note it's going to be a while before I get anything else posted. I'm slowly counting down the days until I am home-not because I hate Ireland I don't hate it I hate Corrib Village there is a difference. I just want to be home for the holidays, away from mold (I have waged war against it all semester and failed to destroy it), I'd like to have dry clothes for a change and I want to be around my family and friends again. I would also like snow and cookies. And I want my puppy back because it's starting to hurt walking past all the dogs and puppies on the river walk and not secretly wish mine was there. Though I'm sure if it was left to the puppies they'd follow me home since one of them always loves to say hi to me and have me throw the ball for them when I go to campus in the morning. They're all very sweet and friendly. I would also like to have my car back-I do love taking bus rides because I can read or sleep for a few hours but with the holidays they're getting to be very delayed with flooding and I want some cargo room to bring stuff with. ] I've passed about 20 spots I'd like to see but without a car that isn't going to happen. Sure I could walk but it's not light enough for me to walk there and back. I keep passing places in the bus scoping out a place I'd like a house. Yes I think a bit far ahead but that's how I do things whether or not it works out is another story entirely so I don't usually get my hopes up too far :) But I'd like a house here though teaching here would be very difficult let alone getting a teaching job here. I'd have to find some other job to do if I moved here. (I know my sister is about ready to throw something at me when she reads that especially if I don't take her with.) We shall see but for now I want to go back home to the place where all men are created equal and I can decorate my room for Christmas and not have it banned.

Until later....

Belfast

Hi Everyone

I am back from London but I also need to tell you about my Belfast trip from the weekend before which was the 13-15. If you ever come to Ireland I would suggest visiting Belfast even if it's just for a day or so. Have I lost my mind in telling you to go to Belfast? No certainly not. I'm sure you all have heard or perhaps not I'm not sure how well news from here travels, but things in Belfast are calm but occasionally some group decides to revolt again. The two sides are more or less Protestants and Catholics as well as various political parties involved but I will not go into details of the parties because some of the lines with each are a bit fuzzy and I'd be confusing you all as well as myself. Belfast if nothing else will be a wake up call to the rest of the world as to the problems Ireland has faced over the centuries with England/UK , itself and the rest of the world.

The divide is still there and you not only see if you sense it. You can feel the tension between people on the streets in certain areas. Some don't even wander to the 'other side' so to speak due to the tensions. Yes I've been told the war is over, but I don't get the sense it really is. Surely on a battlefront level it is, minus the few random bombings that some groups decide to do, but otherwise it isn't like everyone has 'kissed and made up' and forgotten everything. It's one of those things that I feel will never be forgotten and it can be a blessing or a curse. I'd say it's both because there will be those who will not forget and never get past that tension and divide so that leaves it as a curse because everyone is at a standstill. It is a blessing that they do not forget it because it will be a reminder of something that was not so stable and how far they've come. I don't mean to be the negative one at this instance but I feel that full peace and cooperation and harmonious living (or at least as harmonious as you can get) will not happen in my lifetime in Belfast. It's a process that it going to take generations to reeducate views and morals and ethics on. And those large brick walls with massive metal gates and barbed wire that make it seem like a ghetto must come down. However, before the physical walls come down the mental and the thinking process of people in Belfast needs to change. Then again I almost wonder if the walls would remain as a reminder or if for nothing else a tourism attraction alike most of Ireland's dark history. The mentality of the UK/England as well as the rest of Ireland has to change as well to be accepting of Belfast as well as the rest of Northern Ireland back into the Republic of Ireland and away from England/UK. In that case I feel a massive political overhaul will be needed and political mindsets opened and not kept closed. The recession also needs to end as well for Northern Ireland to even stand a chance at becoming economically independent of England/UK. They are given over 7 billion pounds by England/UK to support themselves.

Economically England/UK relies on them for trading purposes though since WW2 Belfast as a industrial city has gone down to nothing. Belfast used to be the biggest shipbuilding factory in the world and now the massive yellow cranes stand there rusting as a reminder of the days when Belfast could make it's living off shipbuilding. Same goes for all of the linen factories in Belfast the last closed up in 1960 after Korea and China jumped on the market with mass production for cheaper. Belfast could no longer compete and slowly but surely by 1960 all was shut down. Jobs were cut and lost and just when things were attempting to pick up again the recession hit. The only thing Harlan and Wolfe shipyards are building now is a replica of the Titanic for their Titanic exhibit in 2012 as a 100 year anniversary/museum opening tribute. And it annoys me to know that everything or just about everything we own/buy these days is made in China or Korea. I can still find numerous crafts and sweaters and such that are handmade here but that's because there is still a market for it. However, with everything else there isn't and even the homemade things here are expensive. Not everyone can afford it so they buy the stuff made in China. You almost don't want to because you know it's only burying these closed up factories closed. Though you wonder what choice do I have? It's to the point you can't go without buying something made there. Whatever happened to toasters that lasted for decades? Or ships that were so well built that even after WW2 and sitting in a shipyard that ship is still good enough to run? No one makes things like that anymore. I almost feel as if the days of putting time, effort and care into the things we need and use on a daily basis is gone. Robots or child labor whip things out in a faster rate than we can ever imagine. Yes it is industry and commerce but at the end of the day why make millions of something that isn't going to last? Our landfills will be overflowing and we'll only kill ourselves faster. But no one bothers to think of such things it has to be now now and right now. Instant access. So I commend those few that still despite the lack of a massive profit they're making in Ireland or the States or wherever for at least staying true to making things that last and are genuine and not laced with arsenic. This is why I will probably never go to China or Korea I'd probably get so frustrated and get myself in trouble for saying this is rubbish. But I'll get off my soap box on all that for now.

All that aside Belfast is still an interesting city. It is bigger than Dublin but still has that Irish feel to it despite the divides. And the countryside in the North is just as beautiful if not more since there are more hills and mountains there. Instead of lots of rock walls like in the south, Belfast uses more hedges for the dividing lines of property in the countryside. There are the infamous Black Cabs that drive around and most offer tours of the different sides so you get a really good picture of the divide in Belfast. I didn't go on one but after going on the bus tour I had a pretty good idea of that as well as walking around.

The one day was spent going on a Paddywagon tour up to the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-reide rope bridge. It was a overcast and rainy day and in the matter of an hour I saw 10 rainbows along the coast. If it wasn't so foggy out on the sea I could've seen Scotland. It rained while I was there and was very windy on the rope bridge. I'm not really a fan of bridges over water; small ones you have to walk over I'm alright with but the bigger the body of water and the higher up the bridge and if you have to drive over it I just don't do so well with. It makes me uneasy but that usually doesn't keep me from going across them. I just make myself go which is a good thing but this bridge on the way back I almost wished I didn't go across. It was probably a bit too windy for us to be on it because if you didn't grip both sides of the rope you might as well let yourself blow off into the sea. You never realize how powerful wind is until it has the ability to knock you flat on your bottom. I did look down at the teal sea crashing up against the rock below me it was a pretty sight to see. It's a small rope bridge that was originally built by fishermen to get to this large rock right along the coast where the salmon fishing was best. Not sure if I'd ever want to stand on that bridge and go fishing unless it was a calm day. It was a fun experience though I've always liked rope bridges. Even if they make me uneasy. I met a few ponies on the coastline there on the walk to the bridge. They were pretty wet but they were very happy being there. We piled back onto the bus and headed to the Giant's causeway while listening to our tour guide tell us about Belfast, his acting career, and listened to him sing some Irish songs. The Giant's Causeway was originally made from a lava river bed that dried up hence the octagon shaped rocks that make up the thing. Ireland is working on making it the 7th Wonder of the World or was it the 8th I forget now but one of the Wonders of the World. It was nice to see the sea again and climb around on the rocks-Emily came with me on this trip she kept thinking I was part mountain goat or something because she didn't get why I could climb them so well. I used to climb trees in my back yard so climbing rocks wasn't much different. It was fun and after walking back up the hill frozen, we ate in the cafe jumped back on the bus and headed to Londonderry for an hour or so. I wandered around saw a cool old cemetery, walked around the upper stone wall full of old cannons-no they didn't work anymore and probably for a good reason most were aimed at the segregated sides of the city would not have gone well if they worked. After that we got back on the bus for Belfast.

I'm sure you're wondering if I managed to make a total fool of myself at some point on one of these trips-I assure you I have on more than one occasion. For instance when our waitress asked us what we wanted to drink with our dinner I asked her if they had a Bud or Harp(Irish beer made by Guinness) and she's like Bud? What's Bud? Alas the Irish do not know the short hand of Budweiser. So I went with the Harp knowing I shouldn't attempt to explain that to her. No one says awesome thank you either around here so I got a weird look for it. I'm sure Emily wanted to kill me with her fork under the table. We weren't really dressed up for the restaraunt either but it was downstairs of our hotel which wasn't 5 star by any means more like 2 max so I didn't get the whole fancy restaraunt thing. Nothing says American like jeans and a sweatshirt with Mickey Mouse on it. Then when asked if I wanted dessert I said 'I'm game' and she stood there confused while Emily did one of those palm slaps to her head. Instead of feeling like an idiot I just laughed and told her yes. After that we went back to the room and crashed until the next day and the 7 hr bus ride back to Dublin where our bus broke down-that was the 3rd time a bus had broken down with me on it I really have something going for me on that one. We barely made our connection in Dublin for Galway-you learn to run and jump stairs pretty well in a heavy bag quickly if you want to make a bus. And after sitting in traffic from the soccer match-sorry football match, we finally made it back to Galway and ordered pizza. The pizza man couldn't find my apartment number so I had to go outside and find him.

So that my dears is the end of my Belfast trip. Here's some photo links for your enjoyment-If I look frozen in any photos there is a reason for it. Because I was frozen.

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100112

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100119

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100129

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100133

I'm all over it now....

Hi Everyone,

Well in celebration of Jamie Cullum's new cd The Pursuit I am writing my own little entry with the title I'm all over it now after one of his new songs. So this will be a list of things I'm over with now or at least have gone through that I'm either really glad I experienced or I'm just really glad it's over.

For those of you who have no flipping clue who Jamie Cullum is-he's not Irish so if you're thinking he's new to my knowledge you're wrong. Jamie Cullum came from the UK to the states back in 2005/2006 with his CD/album Twentysomething. He's a jazz performer and if I do say so myself a really talented one. His songs are amazing to hear and he's even more amazing live. And it takes talent to sound better than your CD. You want a prime example of someone who can't sound better than the recording? Britney Spears.

I went into town today it was pouring rain like the floods and I'm over it. I like rain but I don't like flooding but I'm over it. I can deal with it I plan on getting wet in some way shape or form and look like a wet dog when I get into a store. I never really cared if I didn't look like a perfect little doll walking in the door and I certainly do not fret over it now.

I wear multi colored knitted sweaters, hats and mittens and none of them really match the other and I'm over it. I'm in Ireland and if the girls can dress like it's 1980 with sequins, bright neon colors that never went together and wear leggings instead of pants I can wear a variety of colored wool. Do like the Irish sheep do because they had point with the wool coats-you stay warm and dry on the inside and wet on the outer. So in tribute to the spray painted bottom sheep that gave up their wool coats for me to wear I will wear my knitted things that don't really match with pride. Not that it really mattered how ridiculous I looked before I sooner go for comfort and convention over look. Something some of the Irish lasses here have yet to really understand.

Bad internet I'm not really over you. I'm all over you being anywhere near what I want and I'm all over you surprising me with being slow, dead, dying, and refusing to open webpages. Though I will be all over you once I'm home.

Drunken riots in Corrib-I'm all over it now and I hope it doesn't happen again while I'm here. Though rumor has it I have one last one to expect before I leave....but I'm ready for you with my stock of supplies to lock myself in and instead of leaving the fire extinguisher for you to steal I'll be using it as a defense. I'm sure you weren't expecting that.

Mould/Mold oh I'm all over it now like it's nobody's business. I have been at a standstill with fighting against it and I have now won I have conquered it and now plan on keeping it that way. And I haven't gotten sick from it either so I won't miss you when I'm gone.

Irish Rainbows-I'm all over it now I always have a camera to snap a photo of one and send it home. When I was off in Belfast by the Giant's Causeway and Carrick a-rede rope bridge I saw 9 rainbows in the matter of an hour and a half. I also saw my first continuous half circle rainbow instead of the usual line. They're all their own special thing and I love finding them on the river walk.

Euro currency-I'm all over it now I know how much I'm getting back and in what form and I know what all the coins look like and their worth so I'm not standing at the checkout turning over every single one trying to find that last 10 cent coin.

Painting-I'm all over it now I've painted with real paint two photos one which I'll never see again but one I'm bringing back to hang up on the wall. I can draw and I can paint and I plan on doing so when I get back home.

Carpet bags-I'm all over it now, I used to think Mary Poppins was the only one cool enough to have one and find one and now I have and I love that bag.

Irish pop music-I'm all over it now and I never care to hear it again because it's the worst of the 90s music and the worst of the 90s was really bad. I'm glad to be rid of it in return for some traditional music at Carnes pub and Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum.

Beer-I'm all over it now, I used to think it was the nastiest tasting thing on earth but you never know what true beer is like until you go to Ireland. I have tried many since I've been here tap and in a can and I can honestly say whatever rubbish all of you college kids buy back at home that is 'the best beer ever' can only be the best beer ever if you have consumed enough to knock you flat out. And I'm sorry that's not worth it. One really nice beer for the night is so much better than 20 nasty ones.

Irish hospitality-I don't think I'll ever get over Irish hospitality every time I leave Ireland for a trip and come back I'm greeted back with open arms. I have come and in the matter of a week been adopted as another child into a family, I've been offered to come stay for a weekend and see the sights in London, I've had my ring fixed even when it was considered a bit useless to bother because it meant that much to me, I've been told a hundred times over I should be Canadian but it's better I'm American because the Irish love you like a blood brother until the day you die and I've felt at home here and every time I leave and come back I feel like I'm home.

I'm all over the school work, I'm all over the classes, I'm all over the horrible library, I'm all over it now and even though I miss home in a few ways I'll never get over my Ireland experience because I've set down my root and I'm coming back. You can bet your little pony in the back yard that I'm coming back because I found the spot where I want a house and you can't talk me out of it.

But don't worry I am coming home for Christmas and finishing school like a good student. Because I want a white christmas and christmas cookies and be able to watch my ridiculous Christmas movies and dance to my Christmas music. Because I want to spend time with my family and friends because at least they understand my crazy Americanness though I have made a steady effort to fit in and I've done a pretty good job of it. Because I want to go back home and sit down with the Juice and say damn that was one hell of an adventure. (Pardon my cursing but I feel that is the best way to put it. And I don't want to hear that none of you have ever said those words......you all were 20 somethings or will be at one point. There's no way of getting around that and yes I'm talking to you Dad if you don't believe me go watch the home movie of you putting up wallpaper in my room back in '89.)

Oh and for the record I skipped my first class yesterday. Not for sickness or some appointment because I felt I needed 3 hours to finish a paper that's due in a month so I can go exploring on the weekend. So for those of you who are shocked and angry I will tell you this: the class was past the period of talking about the paper I'm not taking a final test so being there would be for the betterment of my learning which I would have done if I did not feel the need to go stake out a spot in the library that can't house half the student population during finals. And that paper is done. Think what you will for I'm off to London this weekend. I'll tell you about Belfast when I return from merry London.

And for those of you celebrating Thanksgiving have a fantastic Thanksgiving. The Irish think we're a bunch of idiots for celebrating such a holiday when Christmas is around the corner. Then again they think we're idiots for celebrating St. Patrick's day when the Irish annals have about 3 different dates for his death and 3 for his birth and the man wasn't even Irish. It's alright it means I can listen to Christmas music that much earlier :)

Paris

Hi Everyone

Ooh I'm sure you've been waiting on the edge of your seats for my Paris entry and wondering why the heck I haven't posted it yet. Well in all fairness now (geez I'm starting to sound like my Irish roommates) I've been finishing up with papers and working on my Russian homework and spending some quality time with my Irish roommates. That and the internet as usual is blah for the lack of a better word. Though on the weekends I can get more things done since the 'peak times' don't really have anyone on it other than the international students. And it makes it great for calling home since I can go uninterrupted at least for about 4-5 min instead of every 20 seconds.

Paris was a very tiring trip but it was well worth it. I was very excited to go even though I know no more French than do you speak english or hi how are you and this is great. And what French I did know from 8th grade has long since been expunged from my brain attic. I think I found myself on more than on occasion asking people things in Russian without really realizing it. Of course they stood there looking at me like I had lost my marbles until I realized what I was doing. Then I proceeded to ask directions via miming by pointing to things on a map if they didn't really know French. However a good number of people know enough English in France to give you a hand from time to time. Someone once told me it had something to do with the fact that America is a world power. I just figured since we sort of were war buddies back in the Revolution some still knew French via that. Though that's the historian in me. I'm not much for analyzing politics unless it's from more of a historical impact perspective. I just hate all the cattiness of it all these days. So I think I can be a bit proud that on a whim if I needed my Russian convo skills to ask for things I could survive in Russia. Yes I underestimated my capability of that, but cut me some slack Russian is my second language I do better at writing and reading than I do speaking I like having time to gather my thoughts. Though it was quite funny when I asked one man where the metro station was in Russian since Metro sounds the same he got what I was saying so he pointed to the sign for me. I felt like the robot from a Russian cartoon I watched asking people where the metro was.

I had not really been on a metro before Paris. Sure I went on the Metra into Chicago but only about twice and never just on my own it was usually with teachers or family so I never had to try and figure the thing out myself. Out in Hampshire IL there isn't any metro you have to go to a town about 30 min away to get a metro stop to take you into Chicago. So I've always had to drive myself everywhere. I did find the Paris metro to be very useful, my roommate and I used it quite frequently to get from the bus station to the heart of Paris and out into the country for Euro Disney. Yes I went to Disneyland Paris so sue me for indulging the child in me. I know it's a large cash cow but I grew up with Disney and it holds a special place in my heart and deserves to come out every so often. I had been to the Disney World in Florida before but this time I got to choose where I wanted to go and what to do. It was very exciting and I got to be Indiana Jones for the day, ride the tea cups, listen to Halloween music and see plays in French and English about the Disney villains and I got to meet the French Mary Poppins and Bert!

Besides that I also went to the Notre Dame-I figured what the 3rd time is the charm I can go through the doors of a sacred place before someone decides to shoot me down with fire and brimstone and all that jazz because I don't really go to church. Occasionally yes but I'm more of a spiritual person and do things in my own lax Methodist way. That and I was sort of waiting to get shot down since I'm not baptized. Do I really believe this? No but it's sort of a funny thing you think about as you walk through the door waiting to see if anyone figures it out. Makes it even more amusing when you walk past a monk or a bishop or priest and they don't know the difference. Now if I was around a generation or so earlier I would've been considered some hysteric woman who needed saving. So I survived just like Catholicism did after the Cromwell invasion in Ireland. Anywho, the Notre Dame is massive inside and out and if you ever thought that most Cathedrals were hideous or just boring this one isn't. If there isn't any neat marble statue staring at you or wood carvings from the early days of Christianity there is always the hand made mosaic stain glass windows. In a separate room off to the side is where all of the fancy gold relics are kept. I can't imagine how long someone had to work on such intricate designs of goblets or crosses or containers for the communion. And then there is also the stunning needlework of bishop robes no longer being used. The Church then definitely was up on their looks. I have realized that at this point in time I really should have learned Latin because it would have helped a great deal in understanding the mass that was going on. And read any of the signs posted around though I had deduced that they were telling me to be quiet since mass was going on. Old iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling but these didn't hold candles they were run by electricity. I'm sure the people sitting under it appreciated the fact that hot wax wasn't dripping on them burning them to the point they felt like yelling out for all to hear and echo within the chamber walls. The stone carvings above the front door were very lifelike and I wondered how someone managed to do all of that. I would need one of those calibrated machines with auto cad to get that type of precision if I ever had to carve that. It was interesting to hear some soft music playing in the background-it's sort of that music you'd hear if you were wanting more of an imposing religion effect to it. It's hard to describe but hopefully you'll get the point.

I also spent about 4-5 hours in the Louvre in one wing and I didn't even get through all of it. The museum there is so massive I think someone said if you spent 1-2 min at each thing it would take you over 4 years to get through the whole thing. I don't doubt it since in 4-5 hours I barely covered half of one wing and there was about 4-5 wings. The Roman sculptures were really interesting to see though most people were walking right up and man handling the poor things. If you even get within so many inches or feet of a object like that in say Chicago museums an alarm goes off. In Paris-no one really gives a rip, the security guards are usually sitting in chairs texting each other of who is the most touristy looking person in the room. Or how bored out of their minds they are at staring at the same statue for a few hours. I saw paintings that were bigger than my living room at home, I saw paintings by the masters and ones that are older than I really felt like counting and all sorts of silver from different time periods. I also saw a wing dedicated to the Egyptians and some Greek things but they were re doing the Greek wing so I had to stuff my face between some bars to see inside.

We then went wandering the streets into the Latin Quarter and explored some shops and past vendors on the street, ate really good fresh pizza and went wandering some more until we ended back at the hotel and rested a bit until dinner at a cafe next door. The next day we went to Disney and on Sunday before we left we went to the Arch and the Eiffel Tower-but couldn't go up the lines were too long. After wandering around in a green park we then headed to the bus station got on the bus to the airport and landed in Shannon in time for the last bus to Galway.

Did I learn any French? Not really. I can say hello really well and thank you and ask how someone is in a good French accent but otherwise forget it because I ended up getting a massive pat down in airport security with an airport with 4 gates in Paris since security was talking too fast for me to understand or attempt to hear what he was saying. Then he dropped my Garda Immigration card into the scanner machine and I thought I lost it and freaked because that was my ticket back into Ireland without it I was going to get deported or have to spend over 300 euro for a new one. One of the security women came over and gave it to me I thanked her and she apologized for it getting dropped into the side of the machine. Note to self don't ever go somewhere without knowing more than hello in the language or if they speak English. Good lord I felt like a stupid touristy American. Probably didn't help I was carrying around a pet golfball. Did I care much? Not really I just was thinking to myself at least I realize how much of a crazy American I look like and stood there laughing out loud at myself while trying to sound out the name of a stop on the metro map.

I was glad when I got back to Shannon if only because as much of an American I am they still accept me as one of their own. In Paris I was one of the subjects of the security's lunch break. Overall I enjoyed it though I wouldn't really care to live in Paris-I can't walk in high heels and a mini skirt and a fur coat and pull off looking really amazing. I'm not that into fashion though it is a puzzling thing how someone thinks one thing is going to be the best outfit ever. Sure I try to not look like it's clash day but I really don't see how anyone can afford a 300 euro skirt. On the other hand the city was very pretty and it was nice to wander around see the sights eat the food and drink the wine though it's very dry for my taste. I think it's one of those acquired tastes like vegetables some you'd never touch as a kid but as an adult they're really good.

So that's my Paris trip and below are some photo links-some of the uploads were one or two photos so there is a few links since that's all the internet could handle. Sorry. Soon I will post up something on my next adventure. For now I'm going to bed.

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100055

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100072

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100062

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100078

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100076

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100135

Dublin-Oct 3-4th

Hi Everyone!

I know I know the posting isn't being updated that often. However, lately during the 'fixing' of the internet here it's been shut off or just incapable of doing anything. I've also been spending this whole month of October writing papers. I feel like I write 2 papers within two weeks so I'm always writing to the point I don't feel up to writing my own stuff. Never fear though I've been randomly keeping tabs on things so it won't be like my journals (whenever I catch up on their entries from the piles of papers I wrote on) have huge gaps.

I'm avoiding getting the flu this semester but no one here has it yet so I've been pretty lucky. I think the temperate climate is helping me stay sick free. The university is expecting a high rate of swine flu this year though we have yet to see it. I just hope none of my roommates end up with it or I'm doomed to get it.

On a happier note this weekend I will be off to Paris so you will have to wait until I return for any posts possibly a bit after that since I have another paper due right after I return. I plan to spend a day doing the typical touristy type things like visit the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and others and on another day enjoy Euro Disney. Yes I said Euro Disney people laugh all you want but I love Disney and this is my chance to go there for a pretty cheap price for the day and be a kid again and do whatever I want in Disney land. And if that means dressing up like a moron and meeting Mickey Mouse then so be it because it's worth it to me. And it's almost Halloween so that means the entire park will be decorated in a Halloween theme and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays :)

Well this post isn't supposed to be about me being excited for Paris it is supposed to be about Dublin. The Galway Tour Bus Company was offering a weekend in Dublin for 120 euro which would include accommodation, a special tour of the Guinness Storehouse and brewery, hiking trip in the Glendalough mountains and a whole tour of Dublin. I signed up and alas only 5 people signed up. They needed a min of 15 people so instead of being bummed of having my weekend plans foiled again (I planned to visit Kilkenny but no one had a room and there wasn't a bus there the time I wanted) I decided to go to Dublin anyway. My roommate and I bought a bus ticket and in the very early hours of Satruday morning we headed off to the bus station. Something interesting about the wee early hours of Ireland not a soul is up. Normally at such times of 5-6am in the States everyone is bustling off to work and running into Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts for their coffee fix. In Ireland there aren't any Starbucks or coffee places open at 5-7am. There aren't any shops open, heck there isn't morning rush hour until at least 8 or 9am. The only people out and about are the city maintenance crews and a few delivery trucks. I almost got ran over by a sidewalk sweeper. I've seen street sweepers before but I had never seen a sidewalk sweeper before- he was nice enough to let me pass without just sweeping me up with the rest of the rubbish left over from a crazy night in town only hours before. I walked past a line of Bus Eireann buses waiting to take off to their routes most empty of any passengers. We walked into the bus station which is a really nice clean new looking station and not a soul was there save a bus and a bus driver. Ten minutes later we boarded the bus and set off on the 3 hour bus ride to Dublin.

I spent the time trying to catch up on some journal writing but found some of the country roads to be a bit too rough to write so I decided to listen to music and admire the countryside. I did bring a book but I had no desire to try and read at 7:30am. I watched the green lush countryside wash past me with cows, sheep with spray painted bottoms and lots of rock walls. John Wayne wasn't kidding in the Quietman when he said this country has too many rock walls. I could build a house out of all these rocks and still find more. My dog Ally would love it here only because she loves digging up rocks. When I plan to make a rock wall around a house I plan on getting here in the future I should bring her with to be my backhoe. After watching an episode or two of Bones on my iphone I went back to staring out the window as we arrived in Dublin. I know Dublin is a large city but in contrast to being in Chicago it did not feel as overwhelming in size. There aren't huge sky scrapers towering over you blocking any view of the sky or just confusing the heck out of you as to which way is which.

We headed off to find a cafe or some place to grab some tea or coffee and in my case a second breakfast. Listen to me I sound like a Hobbit wanting second breakfasts. After finding a place that looked like something out of one of those W hotels we sat down and ate chocolate filled croissants and juice. From there we proceeded to find Trinity College and a hop on hop off bus. We made it to the college and walked through the old stone archway into the old square which was built in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth. There is an old monastery bell still there from when her father Henry 8th had a monastery there. We joined up with a college history tour as well as a view of the famous Book of Kells. Interestingly enough the Irish lost it for a time and found it buried in a farmers field. I'm sure if that happened today an entire swat team of archivists would be sent out to go find it since that book is over 8000 years old and worth over a million dollars. The book was amazing to see, it is for those of you who don't know, a copy of the old testament one of the oldest surviving copies. It was also done in color which for the time was an amazing feat. Certain colors could only be obtained from specific countries like Africa, Afghanistan and Serbia.

After the tour we went off to find the hop on hop off bus and bought a ticket and headed to the National Archaeology and History Museum in Dublin. There we saw lots of hoards that were dug up in bogs of gold or weapons or just about anything of monetary value that could have been used in the B.C. era. I can honestly say that those that lived in the B.C. era were into their gold bling. I'm not kidding you the necklaces, bracelets, dress pins were huge and made of gold. We also saw one of the worlds oldest long boats preserved in a bog. The funny thing about bogs is that they're used for peat as a fuel resource but so many preserved life in Ireland before A.D. so well. Yes they're messy smelly things with loads of sink holes but with the lack of oxygen going into them nothing decays much. I won't gross you out with the details but I also had the chance to see bog men that were dug up. Some looked a bit tan or somewhat decayed but many looked like they had only been dead for a few days and still retained most of their features it was really fascinating. And these men were dead longer than I've been alive as apart of a violent sacrifice. Not necessarily one for the gods but for political reasons made to appear like it was one for the gods. Yes people lied back then and killed for better political standing. Not everything was all peaceful then. We then moved on to see some religious relics. The monks were big into cape/cloak pins with extra long needles. So if you ever thought about getting too close you'd poke your eye out or at least they could challenge you to a duel if you ever insulted their faith. Their walking sticks were also very stylish and full of bling. All sorts of jewels and made of solid gold and in the middle was the wooden walking stick. We continued on to see the Viking section and I spent some time analyzing some Viking remains with a bit of my forensic anthropology skills. I usually was right about who was male or female so my TA can be proud she taught me how to identify the sex of remains well. The Viking men were very well built and very large. Most men during that time were not 6ft tall and most Viking men were. The Vikings did have quite a bit of influence on Ireland, they founded towns, pillaged others, created a currency for Ireland and brought in a good deal of trade. Dublin was founded 3 times by the Vikings (they lost it in battle the first 2 and decided to move it to where it is now which is north of where it originally was).

We ate paninis for lunch in a cafe after the Museum and went on to visit the Kilmainham Gaol. The jail was built sometime in 1750 if I remember rightly and housed men, women and children until 1882 when it became just a men only jail but little boys still went as well. You may be curious as to how little children get thrown in jail? At the age of 5 they are able to work which means they're able to be apart of the justice system and thrown in jail for stealing food. Harsh? I would think so but that was in the days where child labor existed in Ireland. The jail housed 140 people maximum and during the 1840s when the Famine was in full swing across Ireland, the jail housed at a given time 2,000 to 3,000 people. No in house shower system and only 6 toilets for the whole place. Many were given buckets and many became sick and died. Many starved to death. And it was so bad on the outside that people would commit crimes just to be in jail knowing they would receive at least one square meal that day. Ireland had an abundance of food, but it was being sent to England and everywhere else but to the people of Ireland. The jail was meant to be a reform jail and introduced solitary confinement which was not used in jails before in Ireland. Before everyone was crammed into one large room: murders, thieves, rapists etc. They all learned other criminal trades and after they were out they committed more crimes. The justice system figured that it would be best to start separating the criminals to help them reform. Mass was held weekly in a small chapel like room in the jail in hopes by bringing religion into their lives they would repent and stop their crimes. It was not so successful especially with the Famine situation and until 1860 they did not have mug shots when prisoners were brought in so many could make up a new name and no one would know the difference.

After that we got on the bus to go see Phoenix Park and other land marks on the tour. Phoenix Park was created around the 1600/1700s for the upper class gentry/royals to use as a hunting ground. They stocked the ground with game and spent their weekends out hunting. In 1743 the park was opened to public usage and now it hosts all of Ireland's game pitches and a number of walking/jogging trails. We drove past the US Ambassador's house and the President of Ireland's house. We arrived back into town and went up to our room to rest before going down to dinner someplace.

We ate dinner at a place called La Pizza since the pubs weren't serving food by the time we went out after a nap and shower. The pizza was really good and it was a nice family type atmosphere with a bunch of kids running around and doodling pictures with crayons everywhere. After that we crashed.

The next day we checked out and wandered around that Sunday morning looking for food and came across this 'cafe' ha it was no cafe it lied. We asked about things up on the menu and the two girls looked at us and were like what are crepes? I was a bit stunned and said it's on your menu up on the wall-I'm not sure if they just didn't understand English that well or if they did not know their own menu but either way it was flat out joke. I got some scones but they were rock hard and not very tasty but I was hungry so I ate it. We also had to pay for our stuff next door at the convenience store so we really did not get what was up with the set up of the place. We walked down to Trinity College to take some better photos since we got stuck in a downpour and my cameras aren't water proof. From there we hopped on the bus and went to the Guinness Storehouse and gave ourselves a self tour of the finer process of making Guinness Beer. I found it to be pretty interesting; I won't give you all the details but it was more or less a giant chemistry experiment. A bit of trivia for you-Arthur Guinness's lease of his establishment is to last for 9000 years. I don't know about the rest of you but I surely won't be around to see who is drinking Guinness in 9000 years but that is how long he has the lease for. And they've only used 250 of that 9000 so far so it'll be a while. After having drinks up in the Gravity Bar where you get the best view of Dublin city around we headed to the shop and got to listen to an orchestra playing movie themes in the giant glass pint.

We then headed to the National Museum which is a large army barracks what was being used up until about 2003 where it was made into a museum. Now if the army uses it it's just a way to sort of uphold tradition and show off in the open square. There I dueled with the Juice, learned about Ireland through numerous wars, received an even more in depth lesson on the Irish Civil War and saw more swords and muskets than I have ever seen in my life. We did see the best of the curators collection and a room full of silver objects everything from a tea pot to a button, and learned all about currency in Ireland. I was dead beat after that and we walked back to the bus stop to wait for the bus and on the bus ride home I eavesdropped on some Russians and wanted to throw a book at a guy who was practically yelling to the person on his cell phone the whole trip home.

The end of my Dublin trip :) Here is 2 photo links for you all: http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100086

http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100093

I hate no detest first year juvi drunken guys

Hi Everyone

Sooo I was supposed to tell you all about my Dublin trip my trip to Melough Castle in Galway, The Juice and my other adventures since the last time I posted. The internet has gotten worse if that was possible so I've been away for sometime now. Instead though I am writing another late night riot incident. More like riot incident 2.0 that hits home a bit more. As if the first one didn't.....I love this country but hate this village. I would not really be opposed to someone burning it down to be honest. And at the rate these incidents are happening we won't have anything to put the fire out if it started. That's a very comforting thought. So what happened?

Just a week ago the one part of our apartment block E left their kitchen windows open at night. Simple thing everyone does at some point. I should tell you first that in Ireland window screens are pretty non existent. Someone got their fire extinguisher stolen from their apartment and a band of hooligan drunken Irish first year boys decided it would be fun to spray the apartment with the fire extinguisher. The whole apartment was covered in yellow dust powder forcing its residents to bunk with neighbors and have a cleaning crew come the next day to clean it out.

One of my roommates left her window open per usual and the stupid hooligans decided she was their next victim. They sneaked into the apartment next door claiming to need a toilet and took the extinguisher. Meanwhile I'm minding my own business enjoying a pint of Smithwicks (pronounced Smiticks) with my roommate while coming up with ideas for a book I'm writing when a bang occurred. This bang didn't sound any different than most that happen around here so we paid no notice. About 10 minutes later when my roommate went out of our room into the kitchen to recycle her can, she noticed an odd haze within the apartment. She called to me and I came out. It at first could have passed for smoke but it did not smell like smoke. In fact it smelled like a powder almost like a cleaning powder. I turned around to glance at our own fire extinguisher and read that it was a powder based one. I immediately looked at the floor by my roommate's door and noticed a yellow powder much like the ones in makeup compacts these days for covering blemishes. I knew it couldn't be makeup powder there was way too much of it. So we poked open her door with our hands since she left it open on a regular basis and to our horror her entire room was covered in a thick layer of yellow dust. I grabbed a towel from my room to cover my mouth from inhaling the nasty substance. Our other roommate came out and was shocked to find the same mess. She called security and they arrived about 20 minutes later. Since our roommate who got fire extinguished was gone until who knows what hour in the morning there wasn't much we could do. Security asked us to find somewhere else to spend the night but we had no where to go. It was already 2am I couldn't go calling anyone. We opened all the windows and let the place air out but we ended up staying the night. Everyone was soon back by 3am everyone was in bed but me and our roommate who got fire extinguished. Around 4am she came home and I told her what happened and she spent the night at a friends.

So I then came back to the room and composed a diplomatic email to the head of the village explaining my distress and unhappiness with how things were being handled. The cleaning crew was to arrive the next morning but the guys next door who were fire extinguished a few days before said that they're not the first ones of the year but rather more like the 5th and we were the 6th. And yet the village never sent out any notice to us about it. Heck they never bothered to tell us what they did about the last five. It seemed like they were more than content with not telling us anything and keeping us in the dark. Or from what our Boston roommate told us-denying that any such events have occurred. Alas I shall see what my email brings but I cannot hope for much. I'm off to bed and hope that they don't start breaking windows next.

Arthurian Tales, The Juice, Menlough Castle, and Arthur Guinness Day

Hi Everyone

I will warn you this will be a long post though I may try to make it shorter just to save myself from the internet kicking me off. No I didn't get any new internet it seems I need an Irish Bank account first so I need to take care of that and see if I can have one for only 3 months without crazy fees.

Where to begin well last time I left you to chew on the fact that the Arthurian tales you all know and have seen reenacted on numerous movies, television mini series and of course written in numerous books-are Welsh in origin not English. How is that? How have we been wrong for so long? No, no it's not that we've been wrong in the sense of not knowing that they're originally Welsh not English it's that no one bothered to fill us in of how the Arthur legend/story came to be.

You must also realize that there have been many versions of these tales/legend that appear in numerous countries. So each could in a sense lay a claim to the story as being the 'true' story because it is 'their' version not the 'original'. Do not feel horrible for not knowing this I myself was never told until I sat in class on Tuesday and was explained why I saw the Arthurian tales listed in the collection of tales I have to read for class. This collection of tales is a Medieval collection not one that came about any time recently for publishers to make money in other words. I need you all from this point on to think Medieval because in order to understand what I'm about to say you need to turn off your Modern age thinking and remember people then did not have video cameras or word processors or type writers to put down these stories. Oral tradition in the Medieval era was the way stories were told and kept. Someone had the profession in town of being the storyteller who was to learn over 100 tales and upon order retell these stories for entertainment. That is not all these storytellers could do in fact they were also the keepers of aristocratic genealogies as well as genealogies of almost everyone in town. They were also to know the entire lay of the land in town as well as how to get from one place to another. In a sense they were your GPS of the Medieval era though you didn't place them on the seat of the cart next to you as you went-they would tell you ahead of time where to go. I think if I lived at some point in time during the Medieval era in Ireland/Europe I would have been completely up for being a storyteller. However, I also have to remember that being a woman that would make it nearly impossible for me to be. Unless of course in some weird way I had a past life of being a male I could have been a storyteller. I have no idea. Lately when I go places or even read about them somehow I feel like I remember them from something. Though I've never been anywhere in Europe before. And I promise you I did not do THAT much research before I came here. Ok I did do a good deal of reading but honestly I did not have enough time to memorize everything about every inch of Europe. Or Ireland for that matter.

So what about Arthur you say? Since the primary form of keeping these stories was through oral tales it was not until at least around the 12th century anyone ever got the idea to write them down. Though the kicker here is that they were written down as Triads. Meaning the three main things apart of the story plot characters and setting. It was more or less a cheat sheet for the storytellers to recall from the depths of their memory so many stories. Well one day the Arthurian tale made it's way to England and Spain. They loved it so much they decided to write the WHOLE tale down for everyone else to read. As a result the written tale made it's way back to Wales and to their surprise it was composed as how England and Spain saw the story or at least in a way befitting to make Arthur their own hero. Wales was sort of upset by this and decided that they will write down the TRUE story because only Wales knew the original tale because they invented it. And to this day the tale is preserved in the Mabinogion a collection of 11 Medieval Welsh Tales. (By the way you can buy this book today for under 20 bucks)

The Juice. I would like to introduce you all to The Juice. (Just imagine me holding him in my hand right now it helps I promise). The Juice is a Nike Juice Plus Golfball (hence why I said my hand). Now I'm sure you're thinking what the bloody hell why do I need to be introduced to this golfball? My dears The Juice is no ordinary golfball. He has a face in fact and comes with me on all of my travels in Ireland and in Europe alike. I was introduced to The Juice this summer by a dear friend of mine Sir A. Granchalek Esq. I was told to bring Juice with me along around Ireland and then to place him into the Archives Clam box upon my return because then he will have been everywhere I had. We decided he would make a great addition to the Archives Clam when I return. For those of you wonder what an Archives Clam is it is a clam box that holds relics of past archives students who have traveled abroad. The Juice has been an interesting little conversation starter when I go places especially because wherever I go I take his photo. Or I at least try to so long as it's legal or not against his safety. (For instance the Cliffs of Moher on a blustery day would have resulted in him going over the Cliffs never to finish the journey). Yes The Juice is this little inanimate object but to me he's sort of a piece of home. At this point though I'm a bit leaning towards not putting him in the box unless he has his own little story of his adventures to go with it. So over christmas break I will be composing that up along with his photo album. So if you ever look at some of my photos you may find ones with him in it.

Menlough Castle. Menlough Castle resides up the river about 10 minutes at least in line of sight from where I reside in Galway. In order to get to the castle it is an hour walk over a bridge, down a dirt path, along a road until you can't go anyfurther, left upon a small narrow road going up hill until you come to stone gatehouse (or what's left of it). From there you go underneath the stone gate house down a lane until you come to a fence. Now against popular belief that if there is a locked fence you don't belong beyond it is thrown out the window. After climbing over the fence you walk across an open field and if you're not careful you won't see the Castle. When I first arrived with Claire and The Juice (it was a very windy day so I couldn't get his photo) we walked down a path next to the gate thinking that's where the castle was. This castle isn't an opening running tourist attraction with guided tours it's just a castle keep ruin and if you're lucky enough to find it you can see it. The path didn't have the castle but instead had a beautiful walkway lined with trees, a stone wall, mossy undergrowth beneath the trees and a grove where more bushes/moss and rocks were. Most of the trees had winding spidery like branches resembling something out of a storybook. I almost felt like it was in a part of Lord of the Rings (to give you all some reference point). It was dead silent there other than the wind and creaking branches of the trees. It was beautiful and I thought even if we couldn't find the castle just walking to see this was amazing. We walked back and asked a man working outside where the castle was he laughed and said just hop the fence you'll find it. I hopped the fence and other people were there and we told them they should hop the fence too. A cocker spaniel showed up-it went through the fence bars and lead us straight to the castle. Beneath years of overgrowth from ivy and other plants was the lasting remenants of the castle keep. My roommate said it had to have been built around 1250 due to the shape of the windows. She had recently been studying such things in class. I began taking photos feeling almost transported back to a medieval time. I walked into the ruined doorway or what was left of it, and looked around me. The castle was huge even for just a keep which were generally small. I almost instantly was hit with an idea for a small story or at least make up one about Menlough Castle in it's prime. I really wanted to know if anyone held land rights to this place because I was willing to give up my saving to buy it and put it back to normal. It sat right next to the river and for most of the eye can see was just pure landscape. The interesting thing about Ireland is that old buildings like Menlough Castle don't get knocked down for a super mall. They stand as a reminder of it's history. It soon becomes a part of the landscape. I like that. Now perhaps I'm just one of those old-fashioned souls that appreciates that but I respect it. I watched the dog run around the castle noticing that a good number of teens came there as a hideout for smoking and drinking and possibly strip poker(I found a good number of random teenage articles of clothing). I also found an old whiskey bottle sitting on a ledge. I popped out on the side by the river and found a man fishing the dog running past over to them. The others that came with us were leaving while I stood there taking it all in. Apparently it was not as grand as they were hoping for. I quietly thanked the sheep for giving up their wool for my hat because it withstood the rain and wind while I was there. After we had our fill of photos and looking around we walked back. (We went to the Menlough Castle on a Sunday back on the 20th).

And the big finish-Arthur Guinness Day. For those of you who aren't obsessed with drinking Guinness beer and since you're not in Ireland it may not seem like something you'd be aware of so I'll fill you in. Arthur Guinness Day is on Sept 24th. It is a holiday (though no one gets off work) that is held in his honor for brewing the first Guinness back in 1759. Every year Dublin holds a parade and everyone gets to drink half price pints of Guinness. This year was the marking of 250 years of the event so it was a huge deal for Ireland since a majority of people consider Guinness the water of life or the beer to trump all beers. This year Guinness was hosting 5 or 6 venues of concerts down in Dublin. I originally planned to go see Tom Jones and Jamie Cullum in concert there. I was really excited and later found out that my class schedule wouldn't let me go since my tutorials which are mandatory were on that day leaving me not enough time to catch a bus there for the concert. I was bummed naturally. Though instead I bought a older Jamie Cullum CD that only came out here instead and listened to that along with Tom Jones. Some of you are probably thinking dang you listen to Tom Jones he's old or at least to your age group old. That may be but I like Tom Jones he has been a prominent figure in my music library since I was little. I found out after he was on the stage that most pubs were showing the gigs live on TV. The thing was I didn't want to be in the pub at 5pm when I had just gotten out of class and needed to eat first before going out. It was alright I planned to go out for a pint later that night. I probably should have gone at 5pm when everyone was only somewhat totally drunk because by 9pm I was lucky to get into any pub let alone find the door. The streets were packed with people yelling screaming singing breaking glass and plastic cups. Some musicians were out playing and the place was nuts. I hadn't really been out much past 9 before in Galway unless it was during the week. After getting into a pub my roommate and I bought a pint. While waiting to get one a man at the bar started talking to me. He was nice but difficult to understand at points because of how drunk he was. He kept asking me if I could compare New York to Las Vegas or Chicago to Las Vegas and I replied I haven't been to that realm of sin yet. I discovered you cannot be too witty in comments to a man who is drunk his brain just can't compute things. So I instead said can't say never been there. After talking to him for about 10 minutes I got my pint cheered him and went upstairs. I decided after he came to the conclusion I looked 14 for a college kid I should hit the road. He was very happy though that Obama kicked Bush out office but thought he was the world's biggest idiot for doing a universal healthcare plan when his Irish brothers were a prime example of it's failure. I merely shrugged and said well perhaps since the last plan failed you cannot say it doesn't work until you try it. Though I do have to admit I have my reservations on the whole healthcare for everyone thing....the gov't doesn't alway allot enough money for things....the clunker car plan was a recent example. We were upstairs after that drinking and trying to figure out why Guinness sent the pubs a guitar hero video game to be played. It was interesting to watch people play it-I don't know how some didn't get sick with the moving colors because you can easily get dizzy enough playing it sober. I have played guitar hero before but I have a life so I'm not very good at it. When we were almost done with our pints a student came up to the bar to order drinks for his friends after being at the Freshers ball and a debate for debate society. He started talking to me and of course like every other Irish person I meet is totally excited to meet a Yank. (every time I get called a Yank the Yankee Doodle song gets stuck in my head and even the ice cream truck that drives through here plays it now). After answering the usual questions of how I like Ireland and where in the States I'm from and if we party a lot in the States he went off with his drinks with his friends. I was instructed that I should drink every night that it would be a horrid crime not to. At 4 plus euro for a pint I don't think so....but whatever floats the guys boat. On the way back people were out in the street dancing and trying to break the plastic pint cups. I laughed because they couldn't tell that it was already busted.

Well my dears I finally have been able to finish/upload this post and until later-

Immigratio, rejection, over ambitions and a sterile library

Hi Everyone

So the internet is still horrid it was supposed to be fixed last week which means that it probably should be fixed this week but so far nothing. I'm giving it until wednesday before I go out and buy some otherwise writing my first Irish term paper is going to be a disaster if I cannot upload it to the website. For whatever reason the internet seems to like facebook but hates my school needed webpages. And anytime I do anything productive like look up russian words in a dictionary it locks up on me. I don't know why but it seems to think I must really want to be on facebook all the time and I don't. I know internet here is going to be slower but I find it frustrating when all I want to do is read about the Munster plantation for a paper.

Moving on-I should tell you something about my experience with immigration last Wednesday. Or perhaps give you the intro to it first. So on orientation day which was back on the 2 of Sept or the 3rd I can't remember they changed it too many times, which is a common thing here to change the dates constantly. I have no idea why. Classes don't meet in the same room each day either so I think it must have something to do with needing something different each day. During orientation the Garda (Irish police) came up to tell us about immigration and the head of immigration went up to the podium and gave his speech. I don't like to speak ill of people but my first impression of this man was how much of an ego can you fit up on that stage right now? I wondered if this was a regular thing to be the head alpha male and exert his more or less holier than thou prerogative or just to freak us out before we went to the immigration office? Either way I was not pleased to be talked down to as if I was planning on disobeying the law and not planning on registering or as if I was not going to accept the appointment handed to me to get this taken care of since the Garda doesn't offer appointments to anyone. I learned during this speech that half of the documentation I possessed was not going to be suitable. Why no one bothered to give the specifics before baffled me if you didn't want an online bank statement print out but rather a real one with the bank's fancy watermarked paper then why didn't you say so? I quickly phoned home once it was a decent hour and the day or two before I was given my appointment I received my papers.

Last Wednesday I got up bright and early at 7am and went off to my appointment at 8:30am at the Garda Immigration office over the river and through the woods. I'm not making a pun about that last part it really was over the river and through the woods of the forest park. I arrived early and the 6 or so students who had appointments before me were no where to be seen. Meanwhile a few families were sitting there probably since 7am waiting to get taken care of not noticing the signs posted saying the next few days were dedicated for student appointments only. I felt bad for them because some had little children who looked so unhappy to be sitting there. I was called up and who do you suppose got to do my paper work? The same man who could play god with my immigration papers. The same man who seemed to really enjoy living it up on his high horse. However I did not back down I was willing to work things out in a cordial manner but also hold my ground. I dressed in my diamond checkered sweater with glasses figuring the more clean cut, good natured, intelligent college woman would prove I was taking things seriously. And imagine that the man was as kind as could be almost chummy to me. He glanced for about a total of 10 seconds at my paperwork which didn't please me for all the hassle my poor parents went through, but it passed the test. Ten minutes later after having a security camera take my photo (the worst one ever), a red scanner take my fingerprints and print off the ID I was almost out the door on my way home. Alas I was stopped by my roommate Claire she needed me to loan her my credit card or money since her card wasn't working with the card reader. I graciously handed it to her and after she forged my signature she was done 20 minutes later. Apparently she had a bit of a time explaining some of her paperwork and didn't get through it as quickly. Though I found it really strange of all places they told her to forge my signature so they could get her out of the door when only the week before if they caught us forging things we were in deep trouble. Ironic to be sure. I'm certain my parents are either cringing at the thought but I figured I'd share since I found it amusing after all of the hassle. Why Claire keeps getting held up in immigration at the air port or in Ireland I have no idea. Perhaps they sense nervousness or she happens to be that one they just pick. Whatever the reason it always happens to her.

Today I went into the archives set on volunteering a few hours of my time each week to the betterment of the archives. I was willing to offer up those hours to any sort of work they needed even if it was to them just slave labor of moving boxes or counting pages or books anything. The head archivist was out on leave until christmas, I was hoping he was out researching and not ill. The second archivist instructed me that since he was not there it wasn't her place to hand out such tasks and since I was only going to be there a semester she didn't want me starting something and not finishing it. I explained that if anything needed doing I'd do it even if it meant not working with a collection and she kindly refused me but thanked me all the same. To top it off she added that she thought I was too ambitious to volunteer my time when I was only here a short time and that with classes and traveling I would be taking on too much. I almost burst out laughing because being too ambitious is something I always do. Whether it is a bad thing or not I have yet to find out. Nevertheless, I almost laughed because I know at home I have a huge list of ambitions some which I know I'll never reach others I can if the right opportunity passes by. Many of my advisors (official and unofficial alike) have seen or know of such ambitions and could tell you of them. They understand/understood I'm willing to do almost anything that strikes my fancy and being too ambitious is like telling me I can't multi task. It's a load of rubbish I can multi task and I love having loads of things to do. It's how I keep that machine called my brain working it loves having something to do. I kindly thanked her and said I'd be back to browse through things for a few classes and left. I wasn't heart broken in any way, I was sort of bummed and I understood her situation.

I realized that the library here is nothing like the one in Beloit or in most places I've been. The library here is a very sterile environment with no nooks or crannies to go hide and study or read in. It doesn't have people sitting at the reference desk more than willing to aid you while giving you some neat insight to something else of your fancy. It doesn't have a staff/crew of people who become a giant and completely dysfunctional amazing family. There aren't student workers there or any volunteers to induct into said family. No one checks the books out to you, instead you push a few buttons on a machine and be on your way. No one has exhibits set up of archival material with different themes during homecoming. Heck they don't even have homecoming here. Here is the kicker my dears-the library here is smaller if not the same size as the Beloit library. This library is supposed to serve a population about 10 times the size of Beloit! And it is practically useless in terms of books on any reading list a professor hands out. Unless they request the book in the library and put it on reserve the library will never own it. You can only keep a book one week at a time and you can only take out a max of 5. I understand this is a university but I would think if you are going to be a university wouldn't you want more books or at least enough to serve the population you have? They have plenty of room for more books and yes it is a recession so getting books is not going to go so well. I have a mid term paper due Oct 13 with over 80 people in my class. We do not have any books on reserve and I looked up every book to cover that class/topic so far and there are about 10 maybe 15 books that cover it in some way shape or form. 15 books for 80 people does not appear to be going well to me. I went today and over half of them are already gone. It's a fight to the death for books. This is an experience to be sure, but I do not see how anyone manages to write a really good solid paper with such a lack of materials on hand. Yes there is interlibrary loan but that is even worse you get the book for about 2 days. So my only other option? Buy them on my Kindle or at another bookstore take the hit price wise and worship the gods of JSTOR.

That being said though I already appreciate the Beloit library and it's amazing people I now feel the need to make you a few dozen chocolate chip cookies because you make this library look useless. I never thought I'd admit such a thing (that any library could be useless that is) but there you have it. Then again it makes sense with how the social life goes around here considering Galway has the highest drop out rate in the entire country. Perhaps taking that into account the library thought that with all these students partying they will never want to get a pile full of books.

One last note before I go- The story of King Arthur is Welsh in origin not English. (chew on that before I tell you more next time) I shall also next time introduce you to a little friend of mine named The Juice. And once I get better internet more photos will be posted. I miss you all and I miss home but I love it here so very dearly. So much so that I'm seriously considering doing graduate school here......or living here. That though requires money that at the present I do not have.

Some interesting things I've noticed in Ireland

Hi Everyone

I have survived our first riot party/crazy madness of drunken teens whatever you want to call it session. I pray it does not repeat again this weekend or I will be seriously considering buying some supplies to make a mini electric zapper around that blasted fire alarm. Besides that things have been going quite smoothly though last night there was another party but not to the same degree of craziness. However, it was still quite loud and annoying but I slept through most of it. I did find the morning after to be very serene and calm and clean which was a bit freaky. I would almost call it Twilight Zone level of freaky how there was no evidence anywhere that any such parties had occurred or that any of those people existed or any people for that matter.

On to other things-I realized I did not ever tell you all about my Medieval Banquet and for that I am very sorry because it was a great experience. But before I go into the details of that I thought I'd share a bit of some things I've noticed while being here:

For starters if you're looking for a bathroom/washroom/restroom you don't ask for any of those you ask for a toilet. Saying anything else merits you a really strange look or complete confusion. That or they ask if you're an American and then you have to stand around for 4 minutes trying to explain why we call things bathrooms/washrooms/restrooms and their historical significance. To save yourself the time just ask for a toilet.

Another interesting thing forest preserves are called forest parks. People assume that by making it a park you're saving it from destruction. Ireland has more open and beautiful countryside untouched by hideous manmade structures and shopping malls so they don't need to call it a preserve because they were smart enough to 'preserve' it's countryside while they still could. Paths are also called walks which seems a bit strange but at least by calling it a walk you know you can actually walk on it and not be confused with a street that you may not be able to walk on. However, anywhere in the city/town you can walk on a sidewalk all over the place.

Parking lots are called car parks because they just are. Though you can park your motorcycles in them as well as bikes. If you ask what side of the parking lot someone is they ask why we silly Americans call it a parking lot. I don't mind being told I'm silly or be asked 50 million times that I'm American and where I come from and how cool Chicago or the Chicago area is but lately I've tried to avoid saying things that bring such questions only so I don't sound like a broken record. If nothing else my accent will definitely give it away. I have not bothered trying to have an Irish accent here though in my mind my brain is starting to think in an Irish accent. It proves to be a bit of an issue when I'm trying to do my Russian Beloit homework. And you may all know that in the states when you parallel park you must do so facing the same way as the traffic on that street? In Ireland they don't care which way your car is facing only that you're able to get out of the spot. So you can walk down the street and see two cars fronts facing each other or facing against the flow of traffic and you can park on the sidewalks so long as there isn't a double yellow line on the road next to it. Pretty neat if I do say so myself but it proves to be a issue of running into parked cars when walking.

Well that's about it for the moment I need to get back to working :)