Church Events

Anytime I go to church, I either have a really great experience or a really funny experience or both. It is a good thing that I look at some of these things with a sense of humor because I would probably be very irritated. For instance, the published mass times are NEVER right. They just change them whenever they want. I am sure that there is some sort of system or announcement, but I have not figured it out yet so I spend a lot of time waiting for mass to start, which is okay with me because I look around the new church or pray. Never enough time for that right? The second week I was here, I went to the seminarian mass which was broad casted on the radio and so was being pushed back a half hour. The mass was cool because they had students in from Dublin and Galway to do the readings. The choir was in rare form also. It was made up of the seminarians (I think). Even having a choir is a rare thing. I love the seminarians! It is grand to see so many, which actually is not very many compared to the past, but so many young and old men dedicating their lives to God! After that mass, there was a coffee and doughnuts type thing which here is tea and pastries. An couple in their 60's sat with us and told us some great things to go see while we are here. We talked with them for close to an hour! The man is an important person on campus, raising money for the college and collecting art. He spent 6 years in Chicago and 1 in Boston working for the school. He also knows a biology professor very well and got very excited when he found out that I was a biology major doing work in wetlands (that is, after I explained to him what a wetland was. "Oh, you mean a bog!"). He told me all about his work shoveling bogs as a kid and his professor friend working on newts in bogs. What a great guy. Definitely had the gift of the gab!

The next week I went to Galway for mass and checked online for the mass time. I thought 10 but it was at 10:30. No problem there, the church was amazing! Also communion was the funniest thing here. The Eucharistic ministers were scattered throughout the church and people just mobbed them. There did not seem to be any sort of organization from what I could tell.

The Cork story is the funniest to me. I went to the church the day before to talk to someone to make sure that I had the time right. I had a paper that said 10:30 but my experience with mass times told me that I should double check. I explored the church and talked to what must have been the employed church helper-person, I do not know what they are called, who I should mention is about 80. He said that mass it is at half 10 (10:30). I was glad for the help. The next day I arrived at the church at about 9:55 and it was empty except for about 2 people. I saw the same man but I did not realize was the same until later. Here is our conversation:
Liz: What time is mass?
Man: 10
Liz: (looking around at the two people present at the time) Is it going to be an empty mass?
Man: No.
Liz: Where is everybody?
Man: (motioning to his ear and shaking his head) What?
Liz: Where is everybody? Doesn't mass start in 3 minutes?
Man: Oh, yes, yes they will be here.
Liz: And mass starts at 10?
Man: (squinting eyes) Pardon?
Liz: MASS STARTS AT 10?
Man: 10. 10? (looks at his watch and looks around) No. no. half 10.

Thanks buddy. Looks like I am early yet again for mass. But it was a funny encounter. Adam said later that the man seemed like he was purposely feigning deafness when he realized that he was wrong. Oh, old men. We wanted to catch a bus at 11:45 to Blarney so I asked an old lady if she knew of any other churches in the vicinity that had a mass at 10. She did not know and lead me to the sacristy where the old-helper-man was and an old priest and asked them. The priest got out a booklet of the Archdiocese of Cork to check and fumbled around with it for some time while the woman looked over his shoulder. After a couple of minutes she said "the list is in the back" and he shook his head and continued to look through it page by page. She smiled, shook her head, and winked at me. Later I found out that she was a sister that was guest speaking about her order and work in Africa. The dynamics of men and women are still very traditional here with women only going to work and having careers within the last 15-20 years. I was not surprised by either of their reactions.
Anyway, we fund out that it was most piratical for us to stay and they said that mass would not be one hour anyway and we would be able to catch our bus.


This week I walked all the way over to the seminarian mass, which really is not that far, but NO ONE was around at 9:15 in the morning so it seemed longer. Sadly, the mass was canceled because the seminarians are on retreat or something. I do not plan on going to the children's mass at the parish again. It was cute, but I think that something a little more age appropriate would be good for me. I don't have bully problems at school anymore.

Let's see what happens next week!

Parties

People just collect at my apartment. I love it! It is just like at 340 Stonemill. Sometimes I will go into the kitchen and find 4 lads on their computers or watching TV without any of my roommates around. I think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that some of them live pretty far off campus and do not want to walk all the way home between classes. Also, we have neighbors who have a very messy apartment so they come over to escape the mess. One day Ryan was here from 10-6 just on his computer and hanging out. It is a good thing that I bought my fan for white noise because the apartment is noisy with all the activity. What a good 15 euro investment. Yer man at the store did not know what a fan was. "Like a cooling fan?" He had to go to the back storage to get it for me. Then he asked if I was sure that I wanted it for use in Ireland and where I was that was so hot that I needed a fan. I said I needed it for noise and he suggested that I get a "bad-ass sound system." Oh, the Irish.

Since I have been here we have had a party each week. That adds up to a lot of
mess and trash. But it has been great! We had a very successful surprise birthday party for Ryan, who is very surprised in the picture, where he got 18 kisses and two songs in addition to Happy Birthday. It was a fun different tradition. I met most of the people I hang out with now there. We played twister and when "Stacy's Mom" came on they lifted Patsy, the legend, (if you want to know more visit patsyland on Facebook) up in the air and sag Patsy's mom has got it going on. I am not really sure why they do it. I think mostly because it rhymes and because Patsy is a legend.

Since then we have had another surprise birthday party for Alan, who was not surprised because somebody gave it away. Oh well, it was still fun. We have had two other parties since but they have been lower key. Tomorrow we are having a "kick off rag week party." Rag week stands for Raise and Give and is a week for raising money for charity. Well in actuality it is a week of day drinking. I am not so sure what I think about this. Apparently everyone skips class all week and goes to the events that are held. Usually there are activities each day like carnivals and concerts in the Student Union and bungee jumping. This year they have changed the name to Charity week because RAG week has such a bad connotation. RAG week goes on all over the country. All of this is sponsored by the Student Union, which I think is so strange. We do not have anything involving alcohol sponsored by UD. But that is the difference with the drinking age and the culture here. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, there was jelly (KY style, grody!) wrestling at the SU bar. This is one of the most degrading things for women to do, go in their bathing suits to wrestle each other while men watch and yell at them, but it was a school funded activity!

Anyway, this year they are having just one big event on Wednesday and not much else for the rest of the week. The event is The Gathering, a huge concert from noon to midnight on campus. Classes are canceled and there are three stages. There are about 10 bands coming, all of which I have never heard of before coming here, but I bought a ticket because everyone else seemed so into it. I was sad to see my 30 euro go, but hopefully it will be a good time. There will be an oxygen bar there, where you get pure oxygen hookah style, which I do not plan to take part in. Some are very excited about it though. One of my teachers is livid about her class being canceled. She was talking about holding it in a hotel down the street in rebellion. She is Professor McGonagall from my post about classes and definitely a hippie boycotter. To say the least, this next week will be interesting.

Curry and Mean Girls

My roommates always make elaborate dinners that put my cooking to shame. Their favorite is to make curry. They love it! Crazy. I was not sure that they were talking about the same curry that I eat at home but it is. Curry from India and rice. I have taken to making this also, though I am scared to cook any meat.

Another post about the movie Mean Girls. The other day one of the girls was talking about some other girls and said that they are so plastic. Then, later, they started talking about how every school had the "plastics" and they wanted to be called that. Oh, my, I am ashamed.

Sports: Correction

I have some Irish friends who are reading my blog and were very offended when I described Hurling like field hockey. Now I will try to correct my poor representation of the Irish sport with a YouTube video. This is a good one, though long.


Here is one on Gaelic football. I went to go see a semifinal match between NUIM and DCU (Dublin City University) yesterday. It was fun. All the Irish sports make the American sports look sissy, especially American football. "Who needs pads?" is their motto. Also, I do not think that the U.S. boys would be able to wear shorts so short as they are here.
Start about 1 minute in. You can hear a really thick Irish accent from the announcer on this one.


Rugby is also very popular and my favorite to watch.
This is another long one, but good and with some traditional music.

Slang

Some of you have been asking about funny things that people say here. Here are some commonly used slang terms:

Yer man: that guy or anyone we are talking about. As in, "Where'd you get that drink?" "Yer man" (motioning to the bartender).

Fucken Hell: General response to anything negative especially in sports or when someone has drank too much. As in "Fucken Hell, he needs to stop drinking." Said by everyone, not just the kids. I know this because there was a middle aged woman standing next to me in a gaelic football game her son was playing in and she said it in response to the other team scoring.

Go on: Used in cheering for sports, especially football (soccer) on the television. Generally when someone should steal the ball or shoot. Also used to encourage someone to drink more.

Pull: To go out to the pub with the intention of going home with someone.

Pissed: To be very drunk. As in "Let's get pissed."

Grand: Said in response to something good. Used instead of cool or good. As in "Where are you going?" "To ALDI." "Grand, grand."

Class: Commonly "That's class." Used to say something is good or cool. As in "Who's coming to the Gathering?" "The Coronas." "That's class!"

Craic: Commonly "Good craic." Good fun. Pronounced crack.

Lad: Boy/man

How ya keeping?: How are you?

How's the head?: How are you feeling? Generally said after a big night of drinking.

What's the story?: What's going on/What's up? (I am not really sure exactly what this means so I have a hard time answering it. For instance I do not think that good is a appropriate answer. On the other hand, I am not sure that any answer is needed as in the American "What's up?".)

Give out: Get in a verbal fight or to reprimand. As in "She gave out to him after he called her a ginger."

Gas: Funny. Commonly "What's the gas?" when approaching a group that is having fun/laughing.

Jacks: Bathroom. Generally said only by lads.

Savage: Awesome. As in "That DJ last night was savage!"

Sliced pan: Label on bread that is relatively thinly sliced already, though not sliced consistently. This is annoying when making a sandwich with two very uneven pieces of bread.

Disclaimer: These are my definitions and my experiences. Do not attempt to use these terms in the U.S. People will get confused or offended, much like I was before I learned these meanings. I heard from someone that when they were in the U.S. and said "What's that Craic?" a police officer overheard and questioned him about his drug usage. I am not really sure if this person was pulling my leg or not. I am having trouble knowing when people are sarcastic, which is often.

Weather

The weather here has been mild by all accounts that I have heard of. I was expecting rain every day for some part of the day. It has only really rained about 3 times since I have been here. One of those times I was in Cork. I have never been stuck in the rain for long. It has always just been a short downpoor. There have been some days where it has misted. This is more common but does not really have much of an impact on being outside. The sun is often shining and I cannot count the number of times that I have wished that I had sunglasses. I have been blessed with wonderful weather. In Galway and the Aran Islands, where I guess it always is raining, it was sunny and warm. Yay, yay, yay! Who needs a rain jacket?

sick sick sick sick...

I'm sick. Sad day.

Part 2

Actually, that was the end of the mass post. Sorry for the disappointment.

After mass I walked around that area of the city with my large backpack. It was pretty easy to carry because I have hip straps. Thanks Liza! I met some rowers and got very excited when I saw them. Galway has a lot of water to row on. They row on the canal not the river. The river is much too rough for them. I am now going to explain why the river is so rough, because it should not be. This comes from my research with Dr. Geiger. Please skip it if you have no interest it rivers. In the days before the canal and before the buildings were built right next to the river, it probably was a nice slow flowing river much like the Great Miami in Dayton. Now with the buildings right against the river, it prevents the river from naturally meandering. Rivers should naturally get curvy, but when they are channelized, they just get deeper, causing the water to get very rough and fast. The canal that was built does not help either, because it also channelized the river and pulls water out of it. The river is dammed, bad for natural areas, but great for the rowers due to the large lake created. I am kinda jealous of all the interesting things that they could look at while rowing and all the good spectator places during races.

After getting lost for a short time while I thought that I was heading for the college, but really I was going the opposite direction, I got some abuse from a man who said that the tourist section is the other way. I told him that I was coming from church and he asked if I was a holy. I said yes, even though I am not sure that holy would be the correct adjective, he probably meant religious or faithful or something, and he said he was an atheist and walked quickly away. This is a pretty common reaction when I say I am going to mass to anyone who is a young adult. The atheist movement is really getting big here, I guess. This happened right in front of a Franciscan church. I went up to talk to the monk/priest/brother that was welcoming people. He said that mass was starting but let me in for a second just too look around. Anywhere I go that is mass related, I find that anyone 35 or above is very excited to see me. I think it is because not very many people my age go to mass. The monk clued me in to where I was and told me which way to go for some lunch.

I went to a cute little cafe and got a GREAT chicken quesadilla/wrap with honey mustard in it. I love honey mustard! I then went back to St. Nicholas that I had visited the other day because I read in my travel book about some interesting things that I missed. Outside the church, there was a little farmers market of sorts that had some food, paintings, knitted things, and wooden carvings. They were not related to the church as far as I can tell. Sadly, everything that they were selling was too big for me to take home.

On the church tower, there are clocks that face three ways. It is rumored that the fourth side of the city neglected to pay their taxes. Here is another interesting story. The mayor of Galway in the 15th century was named Lynch and he had a rambunctious son who killed a man who made a pass at his woman. Well, since his father was the mayor and did not want to seem like a pushover to his city, he ensured that his son got the death penalty. Then when the day came to hang him, the hangman refused to do it. Mayor Lynch took matters into his own hands and hung his son from a window. What a tragic story! I can only imagine the betrayal that the son felt, after no one else thought that the punishment was just.
You can see the window here, marked with a skull-and-cross-bones, which is very small and to the left. It is said that this is where the terms "lynching" and "lynch mob" come from. The wall is located behind St. Nicholas. Funny place, if you ask me.

I then went to sit in the park for a time to read my travel book and people watch. I quickly found that I did everything interesting in Galway besides going to the college, but sadly I got lost and could not find it. About 2:30, I realized that I left my sweatshirt in the cathedral and so I went back for it. On my way in, an old man was handing out little golden colored charms of Mary. He was mumbling something, which I think was a prayer in Latin whenever anyone came in and he gave them the charm. At first I thought that he was a crazy man, but I think that he just loves God and wants others to as well. My sweatshirt was exactly where I left it. On the way out the man gave me another one "for my friend." I thought that it was very sweet. I got back in time for my bus at 3:30 and got to Maynooth about 7:15. The bus rides are a great opportunity to see the countryside, though anything that moves pretty much puts me to sleep. It was a long trip and I was grateful to be back home.

Galway

This weekend I went to Galway. It was AWESOME! Galway is the most Irish part of Ireland. I heard lots of Irish and saw men wearing the Irish hats and jerseys (fishermen sweaters). We left on Friday morning and arrived about lunch time. I went with 3 UD kids and a girl from the University of Kentucky. Another American, Molly, who has lived in Galway for the past 10 years goes to Maynooth and took the bus with us. She showed us some good things to do in Galway and showed us a good place to get lunch. I got lasanga, which was REALLY good, and really filling. We then checked into a hostel that Molly recommended. SleepZone was defintally a great reccommendation. We got a 5 person room with a bathroom to ourselves. This was great because then we could leave our stuff for the rest of the day. We went shoping in the padestrian zone (zona peatonal-Senora Long!). It was fun to walk around with the other tourists and locals. There were a few street performers, which were fun to listen to and talk to. Galway is famous for their street perfomers but I guess the summer months are the most profitable for them.
I got a SWEET coat for 20 euro, about $30, and a great purse for 5 euro. My fashion points went from about 2.5, with my white ski coat to a 9. All that I lacked were boots and skinny jeans, which I refuse to wear through the city. I go for comfort! This coat is very warm. No scarf needed! I can wear this purse everywhere and do not have to worry about leaving it somewhere. It just comes with me.
Don't get any ideas about this picture, (Mom + anybody else) Adam and I are NOT dating and never will.

Then we went to a pub recommended by Molly. I was not really a fan. We left soon after for a club. I am not really a fan of clubs either. I feel like I came to Ireland to do the Irish thing and not the Irish trying to be American thing, because that is what I feel like they are doing. In Galway, the clubs hire people to stand in the streets and recruit people to come to their clubs. Stephanie and I said hello to one and she then proceeded to escort us to her club, the Coyote, where she got us a free shot. It had about 10 people in it so we left soon after. Then we found a pub playing Irish music and is was the BEST! It was a middle aged man's birthday and they were drinking out of a large trophy cup. He was surrounded by a bunch of younger women. For the longest time, I thought that he was the father of someone turning 21. At this bar we met some Irish men who were very excited when I told them that we were going to the Aran Islands the next day, and two American men who were going to University College Dublin for a masters in business. The Americans thought that I was with the party. Look how Irish I am! Though everyone knows as soon as I open my mouth that I am American. We left after about an hour and a half for home. There we found the other two girls but no Adam. This was a problem, but he came home soon after. It took us a long time to get to sleep. It was much like a sleepover, where we all were just silly. It was quite fun. The next day we got up at 8:30 to catch the ferry to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. That is an entire other post.
On Sunday, we caught the 8:15 ferry back to Galway. It was wonderful! We watched the sun come up out of the water. The weather all weekend was just beautiful. We got back just in time for 10 mass, which actually was at 10:30. This gave me enough time to check out the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. It actually was built in the 60's, even though it looks quite old. It has a great plot of land right on the water and all the roads go around it. It is huge! I should have known that it was new because the alter is in the middle of the church, but I just figured that they moved it. The church is doing a novena about sight. Sundays theme was can people change their sight? The Zaccheaus, tax collector, did when he met Jesus, and so can we. He gave away half his possessions and repayed anyone he cheated out of money four times over. The entire time I was there, which was about 2.5 hours because I was early and stayed late, there were old people, and some parents with kids, praying at each of the small alters along the walls of the church. This is an intense parish! I was excited to see it.

During mass, they played Be Not Afraid, which caused me to tear up because of the lines "If you pass through raging waters In the sea, you shall not drown" which made me think of a kid from my church who drowned. They sang this at his funeral.
I still find some parts of mass very strange, such as not holding hands during the Our Father or not doing the sign of peace. For communion, everyone just horded around the Eucharistic Ministers who were put strategically throughout the church. I cannot decide if it was more or less efficient than normal with the filing. It seemed to be more chaotic, but took less time. So far, I have really enjoyed all the sermons. I bought a bracelet with pictures of Jesus and Mary on it and a small New Testament and Psalms book that I can travel with. Outside the church there were at least 3 stands selling little religious trinkets. Another thing that I really liked about this mass was that it was packed, and it is a huge church. People squeezed in where they could. What a great feeling to know that all these people were there to praise Him!

This is getting to be a long post. I think that I will make it a two parter. Stay tuned for the rest of the day and more on Mass.

Roommates

I realized recently that I have not written about my roommates yet.

Short version: I love them.

Long version: I have 3 Irish roommates and one French roommate. The Irish girls are First-years (18-19) and I think that Pauline (the French one) is 21. I do not really feel like I know them all that well, because I have not been here that long and they are not here on the weekends, but I was gone this weekend also.

Aisling: The red-head of the bunch, though I would not put her personality as a stereotypical fire-y one. She is super fun, does not speak bad of anyone, very pretty, easy to talk to, and lets me borrow her straightener (giving her extra points!).

Sinead: The one who gets things done. She came back from the weekend and pronounced that she will clean the bathroom head to toe tomorrow. I like this girl! She has dark short hair and is also a super fun girl. I think that she is the one that I understand the best.

Triona: Very tall and thin and sooo nice. I have the hardest time understanding her, I think because she talks fast. She loves the floral print. It is very in here. Maybe it is at home too. I never thought that I would see the day. If I still had my floral pink leggings from when I was 8, I would be sooo cool.

Pauline: I do not see Pauline very much, but when I do I like her. She has very dark hair and a great smile. She always is trying to convince me to come out with her and her friends. She is upbeat and laughs a lot.

The Irish girls are good friends and hang out together. I hang out with them most of the time. Pauline usually hangs out at her friend's apartment and is not here to socialize very much. She loves the pubs, which does not mean that she is a huge drinker, but just that she likes the pubs.
I am excited to get to know my roommates better as the year goes along.

Peanut Butter and Mean Girls

It seems that over here nobody really eats peanut butter. Two of my roommates are totally grossed out by it and asked if people really eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The question was complicated by the fact that here jelly is jell-o. No people in America do not eat peanut butter and jell-o sandwiches.

Another thing that they asked me the first day we met was "Is it really like Mean Girls at your high school?" I laughed and said of course not, that is just a spoof and exaggeration of how it is sometimes. But really, that is their impression of teenage America. This is a really terrible thing because we realize that it is a satire but they do not. Sinead (pronounced shinate) said that at her all girls school after Mean Girls came out, it actually got like that because they wanted to be like the cool Americans. Oh, the image we export without knowing it!

Classes

Today is the last day of my second week of school. I am taking:
BI 310-Animal Behavior and Comparative Physiology
PO 102-Political Institutions and Civil Society in North and South Ireland
SG 104-Outline of Irish History Down to the Twelfth Century
SP 106-The Irish Context: Politics and the Economy
SPA 204-Spanish for Communication

I like the biology for the simple fact that it is familiar. My teacher is quite boring and says "em" every few words, but she is trying and sometimes gives cool examples of animal behavior. We are not to the physiology yet. But I have taken a comparative animal physiology class already this year. So that will be nice and easy.

The political science class is so far my most boring class. He just talks to the screen and rambles. He shows a power point with some VERY main points. No sub points, which makes his rambles hard to follow, especially when I do not know who these people are in Irish political history. I think that I will have to do a lot of catch up reading for this class.

The Irish history class is going to be sweet! I LOVE my teacher. Her first language is Irish and she is a dynamic teacher. She is much like Mrs. Corpus, if any of you know her. She wears a LOT of eccentric jewelry all at the same time and crazy outfits. Her outfits always involve a long robe-sweater-thing that she wraps around herself until she gets really excited and seems to hover to the chalk board to point something out, which seems to give her a Professor McGonagall likeness. She also wears some sort of flowy, hippi-ish skirt, and high-heeled boots. It all adds up to a crazy, but very warm and inviting lady. So fun! Yesterday, the class was going on about something, but I had no idea what it was. I sit with 3 other Americans, who also did not know so I raised my hand and asked. She has now designated me as the American/international student who will say when we are confused...great (can you hear the sarcasm?). But I still love the class.

My Irish politics and economy class is currently about the Celtic Tiger. It is a really great class/I have a really great professor because I understand what is going on. I pretty much hate economics and politics, but I am taking it because UD is making me take a social science and this one is about Ireland. But my teacher talks about things in what I know are VERY beginners terms, but it is great for me.

Finally is my Spanish for communication class that is supposed to be a replacement for my Spanish conversation class at UD. It is nothing like UD's class. At UD we would only learn vocab or grammar when it came up in conversation during class. The entire class we would be talking, mostly debating an issue. My class here is nothing like this and is more like what I had in high school. We get a list of vocab to learn and then do little activities with it. It is definitely under my level, but this is what I have approved for credit at UD. My teacher is from Spain and is very small and skinny. So far we have learned some complicated vocab about the house. I also have a tutorial for this class where I listen to a conversation. Not exactly what I need, but still helpful. This is mostly about grammar.

I am generally excited about my classes. I only have 9 hours of class a week whereas at home I had 21 and teaching a lab. Kind of a difference! I must say I like the break.

Cemetery

Here is the cemetery on campus. I LOVE it. First is the giant Celtic cross that is the first thing we see upon going into the entrance. Then is the crumbling grave that a friend was because someone was trying to escape. Here is the new life coming from the grave. I am excited for spring! Next we have a gravestone of someone who died in April of 2009. I was very happy to see how loved by all especially his nephew and niece, who "erected" this burial, this gardener and gentleman of St. Patrick's college was and to know that the graveyard was still used and loved. Finally we have a close up of one of the Celtic crosses with shamrocks on it. They all have different patterns but I liked this one very much.

Pictures

The picture above behind the title of the blog is of Christ Church in Dublin. It is an Anglican Church of Ireland. I went to a singing service (not its technical name), where they sang the entire service, except for the readings, in monastic chants. The readings were read from the King James' Bible and combined with some thick accents, I did not understand most of them.
The picture to the right is of the entrance to the graveyard on campus. People associated with the university are buried there. I think that they are mostly brothers and priests. It is a very old graveyard apparent by some of the graves, which are falling apart. Others are as new as April of last year. It is a really cool place to go. It is peaceful there and not creepy like some graveyards can be. There are birds chirping all around and new life (in plant form) coming out of some of the graves. I am excited to be here during spring.
The final picture to the right is of a really cool Pub I went to when in Dublin. Everyone there was wearing green because the Irish rugby match was on. Luckily, Ireland won and the Pub was still a celebrating when we got there a little after the game was over. The picture is of the pub from the second floor looking down at the front entrance.

Guinness Factory

On Saturday some friends and I went to the Guinness Factory. It was great, but a little bit of a let down because I had my expectations set too high. All the guidebooks and the people in Dublin and at the NUIM said that it was a must see. But it still was really neat. It was a self led tour with arrows on the floor that took you up 7 levels. The shape of the floors on each level got wider as it went up to be in the shape of a Guinness glass. It was definitely artsy and a really long tour with lots of walking. Do you know what the 4 ingredients of Guinness are? They are barley, hops, water, and yeast (I think yeast, I may be wrong. This just shows how much I learned from the factory!). We learned about the marketing of the beer, the making, and the transporting of it. The first picture is of the huge cylinders that actually contain millions of gallons of beer. I do not know what stage of the process this is, but at some point it travels through pipes across the road to another tank. The process to make Guinness is really, really, really, long and complicated. There are many steps and heating and cooling and transferring it to another holding tank. I did not really care for that part of the tour. The next picture is of the various bottles that Guinness came in over the years. After that is a pile of barrels that carried all sorts of things in them including Guinness. I watched a really cool video showing how the barrels (properly called casks) were made. As I was watching this, I thought that I would hate to be a barrel maker because it was such a long and complicated process. They are made entirely out of planks of wood. There is no sealant. The forearms on these men are ridiculous! The veins were sticking out of them. To make a barrel, you just shave some wood into the shape you want, but when electrical saws were not invented, they had to take the pieces of wood and hit it with a large blade to make it the correct shape. The force taken to do that is huge. To my surprise, being a barrel maker is actually a very prestigious job, due to the amount of skill involved. The training is seven years! Once you get to the seven years, and the master of the barrel making studio thinks that you are ready, you go through an initiation process, where you make your first barrel all by yourself and then you are put into it along with things found around the studio like bits of wood, shavings, and some Guinness. The masters then roll you down the street until they think that you have had enough. Luckily, for all of that work, the barrels last for about 10 years before they need repair. They were only used for about 100 years before the steel kegs came along which were much cheaper and sturdier.
The next picture is of a waterfall in the factory showing the water that comes from the Wicklow Mountains, south of the city, "Only the purest water can go into making Guinness."
Finally we have a view from below of a giant old barrel that was used to hold the beer in some part of the process of making it. Now they use the steel barrels shown in the first picture.

Jeggings

Jeggings. Don't know what they are? Well, you should take that as a good thing. They are jean leggings. They are all the rage here. I am not sure who thought up this *wonderful* article of clothing but they must have a high tolerance for pain. I really cannot think of something that would hurt more to sit down in. Maybe the leather leggings from Grease. Hey, they have those here too! They just love the leggings. I have not seen any neon ones here yet though. Some of the jeggings are made of normal legging cloth and have jean print, while others are actually jeans. Interesting to say the least. Everyone wears them too from kids to moms, though it is restricted to only women, thank God!

College Chapel Again

Sorry for the brief bloggy break. I have been busy being in Ireland!

Here is an update with pictures of College Chapel on campus. I am so excited that I found my way in. The other day I tried to get in, but I could not. I feared that the people who told me that it is always open were wrong. It turns out that there is only one way in, of course, the only door that I did not try. You have to go in through another building. Here all the buildings are connected. Sometimes you can walk through them but oftentimes not. You have to go outside. Another confusing thing is that the other chapels are in buildings, not free standing. When I ask people directions, they do not mention that it is in another building so I get there and walk around the building looking for a sign on a building. Needless to say, it leads to A LOT of walking and I leave an extra 15 minutes early for getting lost time whenever I am going someplace I have not been on South/Old campus.

A friend and I went to mass this morning in another oratory called St. Joseph's. It is just a smaller chapel that they use on a regular basis. We had the time wrong so we had an extra 3o minutes to walk around and take pictures. My friend knew the secret way in to the College Chapel. It was magnificent. I am realizing that I am really into churches and God related paintings or graveyards or literature. Here are the possibly illegal pictures that I took, but there was no sign saying that I was not allowed to so I did.

Above is the outside of College Chapel. Below is the front of the chapel.

Here is the stained glass window from the inside. We think that it is Jesus in the center with his 12 disciples on the inner ring. We could not figure out who was in the outer ring.

This is one of the many stained glass windows lining both sides of the church. The picture does not really do it justice.

Alter

Pews lining each side of the church. The pews are roped off as you can see. I talked to a woman after church and she was surprised to hear that. She said that it is used often, though it does not seem like it to me. Two years ago the parish of Maynooth, the church that I went to last week, was under construction they had mass here. Wouldn't that be cool?!

Below: Murial's that are the stations of the cross under the stained glass windows lining ether side of the church above the pews. Oh, the tribute to our God!

The church was started in 1875 by Pugin who they call God's Architect because he built Westminster Abby and some others. Then he died during it and it was finished by someone else by 1902.

This is the first thing that I see when I walk into my dorm when I first got here. And I think to myself, "How in the world is it possible that Ireland is having a water shortage problem?" All anyone has told me about this place is that it rains every day. If you look down further it says not to flush the toilet, not shower, and not do wash. Sounds to me like we are going to have some smelly Irish people. Well, nobody follows that advisory here. It seems to me that people just do their normal routine.

But I do see why they may be having the water shortage. I have been here for 10 days and it has only rained one time, and this was a short rain. It is misty about half the days, and the ground is always wet. All pants have mud up to my ankles from walking on the grass

and my duck shoes have been the most useful things ever. I am not sure if you can tell in this picture, but they are quite muddy. You would think that I would learn to walk on the paths but I am all about the quickest way from a to b and often times that does not include pathways. There is mud everywhere. And where there is not, there is a small amount of grass growing on mud so that when you step on it you sink and get a little stuck.

When I first tried to get in the shower here, the water was like ice. I asked a girl from Germany who had been here for a couple of days how to work the shower and she just said to let it run for 10 minutes and it will get warm so that is what I did only for 25 minutes, and it still was not warm. At this point I felt very bad in light of the sign posted on the door, let alone my own green consciousness. I went to the front desk and told the girl working there what happened and she looked at me like I was the dumbest person she had ever encountered. She told me that I have to turn on the immersion. I am not even sure if I am spelling that right but I had no idea what she was talking about. Well after some language barrier slang, I found out that here they turn off the water heater when they are not using it to save energy. Well my green mind likes this but my convenience mind does not as to get hot water you must leave it on for an hour before you need it. So I was dirty for a day or two until I figured out how to use it. I hope I did not create a stereotype about smelly Americans!

Runs

For the past couple of days I have gone on some fantastic runs. On Sunday I was out for about 40 minutes, which is very good for me. Ever since the marathon, my knee has not been the same. I went out of town one way and saw some houses and some sheep grazing. There are some houses that are really cute and Irish but there are many others that are English looking and cookie cutter. Out that way I saw the GAA headquarters. This is the Gaelic Association something. It is for the Gaelic Games: hurling (basically Men's field hockey/lacrosse), camogie (basically women's field hockey/lacrosse), Gaelic football (football/rugby/basketball), rugby, and soccer. There are pitches (playing fields) all over. They are situated very randomly in the middle of buildings, way out of the way in some wild grass fields. I then went back toward town and ran through the side streets of the town. Anyone would call the back streets alleys in America but here businesses and homes are there. The pavement is uneven and very patchy. The roads are one way at one point and then switch halfway through. It is a very good thing that I am not driving here, not to mention that they drive on the left.

I was really feeling good but I did not want to hedge my bets too much so I headed home. I went home via south campus, which is the very old castle like campus. I came across an areal photo of south campus and was shocked to find many gardens that I did not know existed. I went in one that had a cute pond and some fallen trees that were black and looked like they had lava flow over them. It is really beautiful over there. I need to start taking my camera on my runs. Since it was Sunday, there were families out on walks, which was so fun to see. There was this cute family with kids that were probably 4, 2, and 1. The 4-year-old was pushing the 2-year-old in a stroller and was really struggling especially because it was on gravel. Nothing here is real pavement, I should say. Some things are just more 'pavementy' than others. I got home just in time for my knee to start hurting.

Today I went for a shorter run, about 25 minutes, and stumbled across this completely straight walkway with grass on either side and then very large old gnarly trees lining the path. It was probably 800 meters long and lead to the Carton House, which is a very old mansion that has been converted into a hotel with fishing and a golf course. I only got to the front gate from which I could not see the hotel but it was still green and beautiful. I was shocked to see a golf course. I do not know why because they do like it here very much. I did think that it was telling of the Irish that nobody had golf carts. They pulled their clubs.
I stretched for a short time and then headed home. I am very fortunate to enjoy running and exploring like this. Oh, the things that everyone else is missing.

America the Beautiful

Today I was called a Yankee.