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 :)

I am living in the middle of a riot zone....

Hi Everyone

I decided to give you an inside look at what it's like to be living in the middle of a party riot zone. Or as some would say the madness within. It is currently 12:34 am on Monday Sept the 14th. In the last hour or so we have had the Garda (Irish Police) come and set up a patrol around the village, the big gate closed by the riverwalk as well as the front main gate closed, drunken parties going on all over the village, drunken teens running around asking for more drinks, singing drunks, drunks who ring doorbells ceaselessly only to find you weren't the ginger haired girl they were looking for, had people ask you for a light when they have no smokes, people who want to come see the apartment again because they lived there last year, have the same drunken jerks wanting a bit of nostalgia lane to set off your fire alarm, oh and the list goes on folks the list goes on.

Yes I see this is apart of the experience per say but really why do I want to know the reason why I found a pair of ladies undies in my drawer when I first moved in? Honestly I don't want to know the story. Thanks but no thanks. And why is it such a big deal that you want to see the apartment they all look alike! The only difference is if you have some hideous art put up on the wall or not that's it. He says 'oh I'm just comin back to me roots you know like you Americans.' Yes because that is the only reason why I'm here in fact that was why I came mmmhmmm yep I don't think so and please just leave before you leave me thinking I need to burn my mattress. And two seconds after he leaves with his buddy oh the fire alarm goes off. He's lucky I went to get shoes or I would've caught him and dragged him over to the Garda to deal with. And while we were waiting for the security man to come shut off the alarm people were trying to hop the fence behind our apartment. Now mind you this fence is over 10ft tall and has forked prongs at the top and no chain links. You need someone to hoist you up just to even get your head over the top. This place isn't that cool people come on. You can easily get some booze elsewhere it isn't worth gashing yourself over. And besides if all of them get over the last one or two are stuck on the other side and the same will occur when they go back. Logically it's ridiculous. However bear in mind these people are completely drunk so logic is not their strength at this point in the game.

But as I'm sitting there on the front stoop freezing watching all of this I feel like I'm in the middle of a riot zone with them trying to break the chain that locks the fence, their yelling/cussing and throwing things at the Garda along the fence--it's like wherever I go I'm stuck in the madness. If I leave it just gets worse on the outer gates, if I stay outside the building I stand the risk of getting stuck in the middle of a fight between teens, and if I stay in the building who knows when that fire alarm is really going off because I'm going to be roasting in a few minutes? The windows are shut because we have no screens and people will just pop their heads in the window asking you to party while waving tea kettles full of suicidal drink mixes heaven only knows what is really in them. The front door to our apartment section is dead bolted only to make sure that no one is coming in that shouldn't. The shades are down so they dont smash their faces against the window and start wanting to come in or ask for more beer. The Garda are yelling and taking people off the fences telling them to go home. Security is driving around keeping people from making messes or starting fights and shutting off bogey fire alarms. You're safe but only in your own skin. You're probably safe from people attacking you because they're so drunk and don't make sense but at the same time you feel alert and those animal instincts kick in of fight or flight. I'm sitting here wide awake listening to all that is going on around me. You may think me paranoid but I'm observing the madness around me from the point of view of one who isn't going mad. And I'm not the only one but our numbers are small compared to the others and its a bit disconcerting not knowing how things will go. An experience to be sure but not one I'd like to repeat on a regular basis. They're all scratching and itching to get in to the 'fun' and 'party' while I'm sitting with the other few wanting to know why such the itch, why such the effort for this one party of all others that can be going on in Galway and other places to be. Why are we the ones living in the middle of this riot like zone?

With that my dears I bid you good night.

School :)

Hi Everyone!

My internet continues to work against me so time is short for what I can give out to you. This last week was orientation which by all standards was no more interesting than any other type of orientation. We listened to people talk about different campus services and important things we needed to know. I won't bog down any details for you since it's more for my needing to know than anything for you :)

This week however, was our first week of classes which is more interesting than orientation. I like classes here they're lecture based all of them except a few select ones which visiting students cannot take (like a class on the American Civil War). Some classes have tutorials that students must attend during the semester there are usually about 5 per class if you have them and they are little discussion groups held on a reading or to talk about something in class more in depth. These are typically run by other professors not fellow students. Class sizes are large here unless it is a final year course those tend to be smaller. There is over 50 people in most classes though I have a feeling the numbers may change by the time registration happens. In Ireland, and I'm sure in other places in Europe, students can shop around for classes for a few weeks to see if they want to take them and after those two weeks they register for the classes they want for credit or plan on taking. I thought this was a odd thing to do because you'd end up having to hand out a reading list over 4 times but no one seems to mind. Most students try to go to classes they do plan on taking and if they really need to change it they will before registration. All of my professors are men I'm sure there are others who are women but that isn't the case for my courses. I don't mind over the years I've had quite a few men as professors. Hmm hang on a bit the fire alarm is going off-----

No worries false alarm our neighbors were taking very hot showers and the fire alarm was set off by it. We're still waiting for security to come turn it off.

Anywhos each class is two hours a week one hour each day. I don't have class on fridays and my earliest class is 10am but most of the others are 11 or 12 noon. I'm enjoying the classes though sometimes I have a bit of a time understanding my profs depends on what they're saying if they say something in Irish I'm doomed unless they explain it so I'm going to see if my 'adoptive host family' can help me out with learning Irish. I have learned so far that the Vikings are responsible for pillaging and plundering most of the coastal areas of Ireland hence all the coastal towns and why some of the best relics are in museums in the East and some in the West because they were stolen. So the Irish are sort of shaky in feeling towards the vikings but it's in the past so they aren't too concerned but if you talk about Oliver Cromwell ah now that's a fellow that no one has ever forgotten in the Emerald Isle. He may have come plundered, raped, massacred many people in Ireland and even sent more off to be slaves/prisoners in the Caribbean in the 1600s but Ireland still hates him to this day. And honestly I can't blame them Cromwell had this belief that the Irish needed to be civilized and that they were beneath the English and needed conquering and were nothing but a lowly bunch of heathens. I would not be surprised if you found a I don't love Cromwell shirt in a gift shop.

Well I must go we are going out to the college bar in hopes of meeting people and making friends. I'm going to laugh if I get rejected for trying small talk with people again :)

photo link

Hi Everyone

Sorry I have internet now but it sometimes hates me and kicks me off or something else. I don't quite understand why. I'm not sure if the photo link I posted earlier works I can't see it it is invisible to me so here is one link to my photo gallery. As for resizing photos I can try but those were the size I took them at so I can try and see if it will accept them otherwise. If not I can try uploading some to a different thing than my mobile me gallery from my mac. I apologize for anyone having problems with the sizes. It doesn't tell me if it resized them for a smaller viewing or not. Too with the internet being a pain uploading photos lately has been frustrating.

So here is a link to the photos of the Quietman Bridge I took along with some scenic photos of the ride there http://gallery.me.com/turtle017/100035

I also have uploaded some photos of the cliffs of Moher I haven't been uploading a lot since it is hard to get them all to upload in a small amount of time