Cork to Paris

We had a lovely couple of days in Cork. Cork is an interesting town. It is a lot more authentic feeling than the other cities we have been to. There is not a whole lot in the way of tourism in Cork city [I think most of it ends up in nearby Cobh], and it seems like a place where people could actually live unlike Dublin and, to some degree, Galway.

The first night we got in Laura was not feeling well, so she did not want to go out. I went out and did a bit of exploring. Actually, downtown Cork is extremely small, and I ended up walking up and down the length of it about three times.

The second day we got up early and caught a bus out to Blarney to see the castle and kiss the stone. This was my first castle, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The crowd of American tourists was a bit much at times [the fellow in front of us in line kept trying to explain things he had never seen before to his wife. It was rather tiresome.], but the castle was gorgeous, and I am fairly sure that you are not permitted out of the country until you have kissed the stone.

Yesterday evening we took it easy and hung out at the hostel to ensure that Laura would be healthy for Paris. Also we have been in Ireland about a month the pubs are not quite as exciting as they once were. We stayed in and ended up watching television with some of the other travelers. Not the most exciting night, but they were all very nice.

We caught a bus to the airport this morning and we are sitting at the gate waiting for our flight right now. We should get into Paris around 2:00 this afternoon.

I actually wrote this in Microsoft word because the internet in Cork airport costs 6 pounds per hour, which is absolutely obscene. So, now we have been in France for nearly a day. It took us about two hours to get from the airport to our hostel due to huge lines and an impressive language barrier. I studied a few words in my guidebook, but I really know how to say almost nothing in French. As a result of this language barrier, Laura and I ended up eating two balls of dry falafel at a cafe last night in stead of the falafel sandwiches we intended to get. This morning I used what is essentially the extent of my French knowledge to order at breakfast:

Me: Un croissant si vous plait.

Girl serving food: Un ou deux

Me: Un.

[croissant received]

Me: Merci.

As you can see, I am practically an expert already.

I've not uploaded my pictures of France yet, but there is free wifi at the hostel, so expect another update soon. Today we are going to check out the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.

Last day in Galway

So, today was our last day in Galway. A little sad, as I am sure we will soon miss the comfort or having our own apartment, but I think we are both ready to move on. It is a wonderful city, but after a month I am itching to travel more.

This afternoon our group all got together for the last time. They bought us lunch at a pub downtown and took us on a cruise of the river Corrib, which is the river that runs just behind our apartment complex. It is a really lovely river, and I've always liked boats, so the cruise was fun.

Tonight we went to see the Dandy Warhols play. The program gave us each fifty euro to spend on tickets to various arts festival related events, so we were able to afford it. Unfortunately, the band that opened was terrible. The bass player in particular was ridiculous. I have never seen anyone assume so many ridiculous positions while playing an instrument. Thankfully, the Dandy Warhols themselves were very good. It was a good show and a good way to end our time in Galway.

Tomorrow morning we have to check out at 10 and we have a train at 11. We should get into Cork tomorrow evening at around 6. I have heard a lot of really good things about Cork, so I am excited.

Catching up

So, it has been a week since I gave a substantial update. I apologize for that.

Last Sunday the group took a trip up to Sligo, the home of William Butler Yeats. We ate lunch in the town and then visited his grave. I have never read any of his poetry, so this was not particularly exciting or meaningful for me. The highlight of that trip was the bus driver taking us to a beautiful waterfall he knew about around there, which apparently Yeats mentions in a poem about faeries kidnapping children or some such.

Sunday night was the big parade for the Galway Arts Festival. It was really spectacular. The theme was almost what you would expect of a Halloween parade, lots of skeletons and other such creepy things. The portion I enjoyed the most was the end, which was a series of clowns driving Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic vehicles. Very nice parade. Natron would have loved it.

Unfortunately for the parade and much of the week leading up to it I had been feeling ill. I came down with a stomach bug that was really awful for a few days. Every time I ate I would feel severely nauseous, leading to me hardly eating anything solid. Monday I skipped my classes to go to the doctor. He prescribed me with some medications to treat the symptoms, but said it was viral. Unfortunately he appears to have been correct, as now Laura is experiencing very similar symptoms.

Wednesday and Thursday we had exams, which went quite well. This was followed up with our last geology field trip just down the road to Salt Hill. We took a walk along the beach and some of us chose to climb some sort of mound with a Gaelic name I've forgotten. It was extremely peaceful at the top. Again I was blown away by the freedom given to people in Ireland to hurt themselves. There was a path to the top of this mound, that led right up to the edge of a 35-40 foot drop onto a rocky beach and there wasn't even a sign to tell you to be careful. I find it refreshing that it is put in people's own hands to make sure they don't kill themselves.

This is not actually the one we climbed, but it is the same type of formation.

Laura enjoying the view:

Last night Laura and I went out with our apartment-mate Fares to have our last pint in Galway. We had a good time and ended up running into a local friend we made a few weeks ago named Kirk. He is from Minnesota, I believe, and recently graduated from college. He has been living in Galway for a while and has finally found himself an apartment and a job. Congratulations, Kirk.

So that about covers the last week up to today.

No internet

The internet at our apartment has been down for a few days. It is a pretty bizarre system. The internet is actually there, you can still use AIM or Skype, but something is wrong with their log-in system, so you cannot use any manner of web-browser. This is the reason for the lack of updates lately.

I am in the library right now, but this update will be short, as I ought to be studying for my geology exam tomorrow. After that we will be finished with the school portion of the trip. We have a couple more days in Galway that promise to be pretty good. There is a group lunch and river cruise Friday afternoon, and Friday evening Laura and I are going to see the Dandy Warhols play.

Saturday morning we are off to Cork for a couple of days and then Paris and the rest of the trip.

There is plenty more to say, but as I said before, I ought to be studying. So, stay tuned for more updates soon.

Caves and Cliffs

Today we had a field trip to the Cliffs of Moher and some nearby caves. Unfortunately they were both a bit disappointing. The caves were rather small and unimpressive [perhaps we are just spoiled by the caves back home] and when we were at the cliffs it was impenetrably foggy. At times, you could not even see the water over the cliff.

This is an example of the view:

On the plus side, the arts festival has started in town, and the sidewalks are lined with musicians, fire dancers, and magicians. Additionally, there are quite a few shows and parades going on. Last night we happened to be downtown at the time of the 'insects and dinosaurs' parade, which last night consisted of three people on stilts with very bizarre sci-fi dinosaur costumes:

Well, it is fairly late here and I ought to get some rest. The market in town tomorrow should be more exciting than usual with all these visiting musicians and artists.

Dublin

As I mentioned before, our group went to Dublin for the weekend. We had a wonderful time. On friday night we attended Riverdance with our group. It was alright. The first half was a bit dull but the second half was a little better. It was a very Americanized show [they even had a bit with jazz and black tap dancers who were supposed to be from New Orleans] and the music was a little too modern, but it was an experience.

Saturday we went to the Guinness storehouse, which was great. They did a really good job with the museum, and at the end you get a free Guinness in their sky bar, which sits above the skyline of Dublin and has a wonderful 360 degree view of the city. It is packed and we had to fight for our seats, but we managed to get some really nice seats around the outside.

Here are a couple pictures of me enjoying the free Guinness and the view from the sky bar [I tried to upload a video of the whole view, but the internet here is just awful]:

Additionally, they had an enormous Guinness store at the storehouse, so I picked up a few things including a bottle of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, the only variety of Guinness I have not tried. It is not available in the states. I watched a video where they said that what distinguishes it from the other Guinness beers is that back in 1801 when they started producing it, this recipe was made with extra hops to help it weather the journey to places like Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. I have not had it yet, but it should be interesting.

That evening we met up with Fares and his friend Kevin and went to a pub where there was a metal/irish traditional music fusion show. It was certainly interesting, but not my cup of tea. From what I have seen so far there appears to be a fairly large metal scene in Ireland.

One of the nicest things about the Dublin trip was that we were given a fairly large sum of extra money to pay for restaurants and museums, so for the first time on the trip we ate at a restaurant. We actually ate dinner at restaurants both nights. The first night we were there we ate at a restaurant called MAO. It was an asian restaurant with a lot of pop art pictures of Mao around and pretty decent food. I was still slightly sick at this point and a nice bowl of pork ramen helped out quite a bit [might have had something to do with the sudafed as well].

The second night we went to a place called Bia Bar, which was not as unique as MAO, but was an affordable place with very good food. I got a steak there because I think it might be the only time during this trip that I can afford it. What actually brought us in to Bia Bar was a cocktail called the Lynchburg Lemonade. Laura and I were walking around checking out menus and how could we not get a cocktail with Laura's hometown in the name?

There is a place in Galway called Lynch's castle. It is the remnants of a house inhabited by a fellow named James Lynch. The story of James Lynch is that he was mayor of Galway, and his son murdered a Spanish man. James Lynch apparently volunteered to be the hangman. It may not be the case, but it would be pretty neat if he were related to the fellow who founded Lynchburg. Unfortunately, the remnants of his castle are now mostly occupied by an overpriced cafeteria.

Wednesday we have due a 15 minute presentation and a 6 page paper in sociology, which seems like terrible planning from the teacher, but I ought to work on it anyways.

Work

Things here have slowed down a bit. We have started getting some heavy work for class and there is a cold going around. Unfortunately I came down with said cold yesterday. The group is heading to Dublin for the weekend, so hopefully it clears up soon. Anyways, that is why I have not updated in a few days.

For most of the time since my last update our apartment-mate Fares had a friend staying with us. Fares is an interesting fellow. He grew up in Saudi Arabia and his father still lives and works there. The friend staying with us was named Kevin and grew up in Saudi with Fares but when it came time for them to start high school and Fares went to the states, Kevin returned to Ireland where his mother lives. He has lived in Dublin for the past five years or so, and I think it was a very interesting reunion for Fares and him.

So he stayed with us for a few days and it was a good time. He was extremely friendly and it is always a good time to hang out with locals [and he was able to explain the rules of gaelic football to me]. He returned to Dublin yesterday afternoon, but I think we are going to see him again this weekend while we are there.

Today we had a field trip to a Connemara marble quarry. Connemara marble is a wonderful green marble, but unfortunately is somewhat uncommon these days. Apparently it was very fashionable a couple hundred years ago, but has fallen out of fashion since. This is due largely in part to it being unsuitable for outdoor use because it stains. The quarry was small and somewhat unremarkable and they did not have much in the way of finished marble products, so I only got photos of the raw marble, which is not nearly as pretty. To give you an idea, however, here is someone else's picture of the three types of Connemara marble. The green is the most famous. Here is a photo I took of the raw marble:

And this is a photo of the quarry:

It is about time for me to get to bed. We are on our way to Dublin at eight tomorrow morning, so I should get some rest. Here are a couple of photos of the Connemara area, though, as it is quite gorgeous:

Aran Islands

Today we went on a trip to the Aran Islands. More specifically, to Inishmore, the largest of the three. The Aran Islands are three islands on the edge of Galway Bay. Inishmore, the largest, is about nine miles long and two miles wide. The islands are reachable only by ferry or a short plane ride.

Once we were on the island, the school had arranged a bus tour for us. We were driven around by a local named Patrick who took us to see the sights of Inishmore and told us a bit about the island. Unfortunately, most of what he told us was about how much it cost to do anything on the island because transporting anything there was expensive.

The big attraction of Inishmore is the prehistoric fort, Dún Aengus, which is estimated to have been built around 1000 BC. And while ancient forts are exciting, the really exciting bit about this fort is that it is built on a 300 foot tall sea cliff. Some of the circular fort is thought to have collapsed into the sea with the eroding rock, but that means that what is left is a U shaped wall encompassing a nice bit of cliff. In the States I imagine this 300 foot cliff would have a railing or a sign to warn you of the danger of falling to your death, but here there is nothing. You can stroll right up to the edge and lean over. And it is quite an experience. The standard practice, however, appears to be crawling up on your stomach:

Here are a couple more photos of the cliffs. They were quite impressive.

And this is an incredibly bold girl from our group named Carrie:

After the fort, Patrick drove us around the island a bit more and then left us in the village to look at the other big attraction of the Aran Islands: Aran sweaters. Laura and I have both been feeling like we did not pack enough warm clothing for this trip, so what better time to buy something warm than on the Aran Islands? Laura bought a hat and I bought a sweater. The sweater I bought is not the traditional un-dyed wool of the Aran sweater, but it does have the intricate pattern on the front, and I was able to get it at 50% off, making it something I can afford. Here are laura and I enjoying our new wool goods:

4th of July

Well, my 4th of July did not go entirely without celebration. Laura, the ever resourceful baker she is, suggested we make an apple pie. We did were short flour, but we threw together a pretty nice little pie with white bread, margarine, sugar, cinnamon, sour cream, and an apple. Here is our pie.

Hot dogs

So far as I can tell, the thing in Ireland most associated with Americans are hot dogs. At the local convenience store/market they have bottles of yellow mustard which they call hot dog mustard and cans of "American hot dogs in brine". I felt like for the fourth of July I should crack open a couple cans of hot dogs, but I was just too tired, and now the store is closed.

Today we had our first geology field trip. We went to a coral beach and the Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute. They do work with NUI Galway, but the center we visited was in Carna in County Galway. It was a little over an hour to get there by bus. They took us on a very nice tour and showed us what they do there. It seemed like the majority of what they do was related to expanding and improving aquaculture. They took us through the facility and showed us the various stages of the process from growing microalgae up to full grown fish. Here are a couple jars of microalgae.

The fellow on the right was the one giving us the tour and the man on the left is our geology professor. They are standing in front of a tank containing an estimated 5000-6000 young cod. Which will eventually be grown to market size in this facility and sold.

After the marine research facility we went to a coral beach. The interesting part is that the coral is from a local seaweed. It is red when it is alive, but on the beach it bleaches and looks like this:

The professor we have had for geology this week is a different fellow than the one in the previous photo. This week we have had a seaweed specialist giving our lectures, so the point of going to the beach was for him to show us some tide pools full of various seaweeds and such. I have always had a mild fascination with tide pools, so I enjoyed that. This is a photo of our professor, Liam, pulling up a seaweed to show us.

And here is another photo of the beach we went to. It was a really lovely beach. Nice turquoise water and everything. It is a shame that it is always cold and windy here.

Galway Bay

Yesterday was the first day of class. So far our geology class has been focusing on marine biology, but oh well. After class the weather was lovely [for Irish standards at least], so I went for a walk down through the park on Galway bay. It is a wonderful park.

Yesterday evening we met up with our friends Pilar and Mel and went to a storytelling event at a place called the spirit center. It is an event held the first tuesday of every month by a friend of Pilar's who tells stories for a living. Our W&M group is actually going to see her this evening at the Cottage Bar. The storytelling event last night was led by the woman Clare, but anyone was free to tell a story. It is not in my nature to speak in front people if I don't have to, but Laura told a story about Lynchburg, and did a very good job.

After the story telling we went with Pilar, Mel, and a couple of their friends to a pub to see some traditional Irish music being played by a group of Spanish fellows.

As I mentioned before, tonight we are going to the Cottage Bar for a free dinner and a chance to hear some Irish folktales. Should be a good time.

And here are a couple of photos I took of Galway Bay and the park: