"The Kingdom": 28 Jan - 3 Feb

Ó mo léan, January is over! I can hardly believe it's already been a month. I've seen and done so many things, and I know there are so many more waiting for me. Knowing that the month was ending just made this week feel all the crazier, when in actuality I didn't do much different than previous weeks. The first big event was the message calmly stating that Mom was going in for surgery because she broke her arm. I could hardly believe it because it was only a few days after Dad had his surgery. So the next night, we celebrated. ... Bad timing, that. We did, though. We decided to do a big hurrah, called it Taco and Tequila Tuesday, then went out to a dance pub. When getting ready, I didn't think about how far the walk to city centre was, so of course I wore shoes that were impossible to walk in, let alone dance in... But that's ok. A person has to do something stupid every once in a while. On the walk back, we met a guy who was completely drunk but gave us each a piece of his pizza anyway. He was funny, in a not creepy way. When we asked about the pizza, he said he didn't even remember paying for it, but who turns down a pizza when it gets put in your hand? His company made the walk back a bit more merry. And the next day, I did nothing. Hard to believe after dancing all night. The only things I accomplished were my laundry got clean, and somehow my room too. We all got emails telling us to accept the rules and terms for the exam room so we could get our schedule for May. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to do so on a mobile device. It's all taken care of now, but for a few days I was a bit peeved that I didn't know what my schedule was, or if I had to correct it. But the entire day was made better when the thunderstorm rolled in. I absolutely love thunderstorms so I was literally bouncing in glee when I saw the lightning flash. The people walking home weren't so enthusiastic, but I was pretty sure I was in heaven. If we can't have snow, then send us thunderstorms. On Thursday, my entire day was all about Buddhism. I had a huge reading assignment due the next Monday and there was no way I could finish it all over the weekend. On top of that, we watched a one hour video about Buddhism...It was really hard to get out of my head that night. But the fact that the next day, after dance class, we were going to Kerry definitely shoved religions to the side.

On the Ring of Skellig:Geokaun Mountain & Fogher Cliffs

Kerry is an absolutely beautiful county. I'm not surprised that it's often referred to as "the Kingdom". It was everything stereotypical about Ireland. The hills were green, there were bogs, and sheep, and drystone walls, and churches, and so many things. I loved it. Maybe it was all better because it was my birthday weekend. I don't know. But for sure, it has been my favorite part of Ireland so far. There were two places in particular that enraptured me. Killarney National Park was the first.

Torc Waterfall

There's a waterfall known as Torc Waterfall and the path up to it is literally so green, it was like a fairytale. And the views of the lakes, and the serenity of it all. Gorgeous. And the other place I loved so much was the Ring of Skellig. This is a little known path contained inside the Ring of Kerry. Most of the people in the region speak Irish all the time and only learn English when they go to primary school. Most of them are also farmers of one kind or another. We had a speaker who is native to the area tell us some stories of her life and childhood. And the things to see in the area. Oh, I loved it so much.

Biddy Dancers for St. Bridget's Day

If I ever move to Ireland, I think I'll go to the Iveragh Peninsula, marry a farmer, and raise lots of Irish speaking children. ... Probably not, but it's a nice dream anyways. There are so many more things that I could say, but it would take me forever to write them all and no one would want to read them. The best I can do is, if you visit Ireland, Kerry, especially Skellig and Killarney National Park, must be a high priority.

Rain, rain, go away: 21 - 27 Jan

So, of course, my week started with classes once again. Just the same old, same old. I thought I did a pretty good job on Tuesday of catching up on things. ... Yeah, that didn't last long. I feel like I was kind of lazy after Tuesday's big accomplishments. I didn't do a darn thing on Wednesday night. We'll attribute that to my big adventure in the city centre earlier in the day. What happened was, I had to register with Immigration so they didn't kick me out of the country come April. I did good finding the Garda Station since I had been there once before with Jemma. So, quick, easy registration, that got me another card to keep in my wallet. Then I began feeling adventurous. I decided to buy the dance shoes. We were given the option of tap shoes, or the somewhat more expensive traditional hard shoes. I was really looking to buy the hard shoes. However, after wandering for some time and not finding the shop, then feeling like the lady in the shop was too busy to be polite when she helped me, I didn't feel like trying too hard. Plus, I thought she said the shoes would be 1200 euro. ... Yeah, that's what I thought. But when I asked for the tap shoes, she said they didn't have any in my size. Then she tried to give me directions to the other branch (which I didn't even know existed). You can imagine how I felt about trying to find another shop. I did it though, and discovered that the hard shoes were "about 100". Yay for being confused by the accent. After finally making my long-awaited purchase, I realized it was getting late and it would be a close shave making it to class. So I power-walked the 2.4 km, which usually takes me 40-45 minutes, in under 30 minutes. I was so proud of myself until I realized I had misread the clock and had an extra hour. Not so proud then. Thursday was also an adventure when I suddenly got a message from my brother saying Dad was in surgery. ... What?! Somehow his retina had become detached and it needed to be fixed immediately. So I was crazy worried all night. On Friday we finished our first dance, which was exciting. I can now say that I can dance a reel, albeit a simple one. After class, I rushed to the bus station because I had no idea how long it would take me to get there. It was getting close to time to go and no one else had shown up. I was getting nervous, but we managed to get on just as the driver was about to leave. Oops, I should maybe tell you where we were going.

After lunch in Kinsale before braving the rain again

To Kinsale, a little coastal town with a fort. It would have been cute and nice to walk up to the fort if it hadn't poured buckets on us. I haven't been that wet since the last time I went swimming. We got about halfway to the fort when we decided to stop for lunch and to maybe dry off a bit before heading back out. But when we were leaving, trying to make a decision on whether or not to continue on or go back, we realized the road behind us had started to flood. Definitely a major factor in our decision to go back to town. And right as we were coming into town we could see the bus bound for Cork and decided it was time for home and a hot shower (especially since it was still raining). Turns out we had impeccable timing because not only did we catch two buses just before they were leaving, we also managed to get back to Cork just before the road to Kinsale became unsafe to drive due to "extreme flooding".

Two baby giraffes!

Saturday was a much more beautiful day. True, it did sprinkle on us a bit, but it was nowhere near as extreme as Friday. First thing we did on Saturday was sleep in a bit later than we had planned. We had to call a taxi to take us to the train station...so we could catch a bus. That was a bit weird. I was really looking forward to the train since I had never been on one. Our first stop was Little Island and the Fota Zoo. That was great fun because many of the animals weren't actually penned, such as the birds, and the maras.

Really tiny picture of maras

If you don't know what a mara is, I highly suggest you find a video of one. They have to be one of the funniest animals on land. My favorite part of the zoo was the red panda, of course, but we also really enjoyed the giraffes and the antelope with horns as big as their bodies.

Red Panda=cutest animal on the face of this planet

Oh, and the meerkats. Always a hit with anyone who has seen the Lion King. Then on to Cobh (pronounced Cove) where we stopped for lunch and the Titanic Experience. Apparently Queenstown, which is what Cobh used to be called, was the last place the Titanic stopped before beginning her voyage to New York. The tour was informative and a bit fun, especially since your ticket comes with a name on it and you can see if you survived or not, but it was a bit expensive. Afterwards, we returned to the train station and waited for our bus. But magically our bus became a train and we had to run to catch it. By that point we were exhausted and we all sort of dozed on the way home. Which meant that we didn't go out for Australia Day. And that Sunday was a day for relaxing and catching up on sleep.

The fattest meerkat I have ever seen in my life...

Here's to the Beginning: 7-13 Jan.

The first day of classes rolled around, and already I have questions for the International Office. They were all small, technical questions that I don't remember all the details of now, but they seemed terribly important at the time. There were two classes in my schedule on Monday, Religions of East Asia, and Rise and Fall of Athens. While at the International Office, I learned that Religion wouldn't start until the next day. That freed me up until late afternoon. So I did what most students do in their free time: nothing.

When I went to the Rise and Fall of Athens, I experienced a letdown. I had expected a class in the classic literature, some language, and mostly the culture of the Ancient Greeks, and I was right. It sounded fun, but the class was incredibly boring. There was too much history, and there were maps, and the class simply didn't appeal to me that much. Therefore, I did not go to the next lecture, which was on Tuesday night. However, I did go to Religion, which was a blast, and to Democracy and Citizenship, which wasn't really what I expected. But I'll get to that in a minute. First Religion.

I have never done a study in religions before and didn't know what to expect when i arrived. The class I went to is a second-year class, meaning most of the students had some experience in the topic. In that regard, I feel slightly behind. But if I stay on top of things, maybe do a little outside research, I should be ok. And the instructor is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable that it definitely makes it worthwhile.

Democracy and Citizenship is a different story. This class is for first-years and the instructor assumes we have no knowledge of democracy at all. I was interested in the class for the citizenship aspect, but we will spend one, maybe two, weeks on the topic. The rest of the semester will focus on democracy, the definition, the practice, the future, etc etc. It is still interesting, a bit, and I think I can stick it out since it's only once a week. If it was more frequent, I would probably drop.

Tuesday night was the first night we went out by ourselves. Jemma, Jocelyn and I explored the city centre a little bit until we found a place that seemed promising: the An Bodhran. Inside we found a friendly atmosphere and open mic night. None of us sang. However, we got a taste for Irish rap. ... Needless to say, that was interesting. Our next stop was at the Washington Inn. There was a large group of people we knew there already so we stopped for a couple dances. However, the pub was packed and was getting ready to close. So, we decided it was time to head home.

On Wednesday we finally got to see the sun. Up until then it could only be glimpsed occasionally through the perpetual mist. But on Wednesday it came out in full glory and stayed. Some of us even dusted off our sunglasses. I had just a single class in mid-afternoon: Management of Public Health Systems. The scheduled instructor was sick so the head of the Department of Management and Marketing filled in. The class was exciting and fun and I hope it continues to stay that way since I need to be there for two hours each week.

Thursday saw the return of the sun and Religion. It was the only class scheduled that day. Jemma and I attended a meeting pertaining to the Introduction to Modern Irish class. The instructors work with each person's schedule and fill the classes so they work well with as many people as possible. So we turned in our available times then headed for the city centre to do some grocery shopping. We ate at a small sandwich shop that was delicious. Unfortunately I don't remember what it was named right now. We also stopped at the hot chocolate cafe. Oh, that was delicious. The entire menu is simply different flavors of hot chocolate. I had cinnamon and nutmeg, and decided it tasted like Christmas cookies. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.

Friday was an early start. After about an hour of wandering we managed to find the music building. But then we had trouble getting inside since our cards hadn't been activated to open the door. So we were late for step dancing. It was ok though because everyone was still doing introductions. Unfortunately, the zipper on my jacket broke during the walk and so I had to struggle to get out before we started dancing. We learned just a single step that day called "threes". It's a simple step but it holds together the first full dance we will learn, called the reel. Jemma and I then went to the Immigration Office. I didn't have all my paperwork done so wasn't served. However, it was a good walk, we got hot chocolate again, and I know where to go now when I have everything in order.

After a long week of classes, it's a good idea to get out and have some fun. So on Saturday we took a bus up to Killarney and went horseback riding through the National Park. Oh, it was beautiful up there. A bit cold, but the sun was out and the company good. The ride was great fun. Mostly we went in train style, one horse right behind the other. There was a mishap when the lead horse spooked a bit and decided to go backwards instead of forwards. Since I was second in the train, my horse, whose name was Budweiser, decided to follow. Our nice line had become a jumbled mess. We also learned to trot. It looks easy watching someone else do it, but it's not. For the first trot, Budweiser decided to go a few feet, then walk, trot a bit, then walk. On the second trot he went a steady pace. I felt like my brains were going to bounce out because I didn't quite get the hang of it. After that I improved immensely because it suddenly made sense what to do. Since the ride was two hours, we didn't have time to stay and see Killarney. We hobbled our way to the bus station and headed home right away, found a greasy pizza shop, and ate a typical college student meal. It was delicious.

Sunday was once again a day for relaxing and getting ready for the week to come. A week I expect to be filled with lots of excitement.