The Siege of Limerick Trailer

There's a fun Ultimate tournament coming up in February. It's called the Siege of Limerick, and will be in Limerick (surprise) February 14-15. I've been playing Ultimate with the team here, and I'll be going up. A team from the Netherlands just released a trash-talk video, which I found pretty entertaining. Click here to check out the video.

Getting Acculturated

My Culture, Literature, and Language of Ireland professor (actually called a lecturer here, a professor is the head of a specific department) is exactly what you expect an old Irishman to look like. Short, pale with reddened cheeks and frazzled, thinning red hair. He's also hilarious, and spends half the class making jokes. The following is a gem of a conversation. First, a little background. Irish classes are scheduled from the beginning of an hour to the end of an hour, with no passing period. Since it would be unreasonable to expect people to be there at the exact times, most classes start 5-10 minutes into the hour. The lecturer walked into class yesterday at 6 PM, looked at the full room, and said: "Wow, everyone's on time. That's so un-Irish of you."
Me: "Give us a few weeks, we're not adjusted yet."
Lecturer: "Ah, yes, in a few weeks you'll all be acculturated and come late. Then you'll be drunk, too. But that's not a problem, it will make the lecture better."

(American) Gladiators

American Gladiators, the beloved, patriotic television franchise, is simply known as "Gladiators" here. Europe, stop kidding yourself, we all know who invented it.

Also, in the Eliminator, they replace the hand bicycle part of the eliminator with monkey bars for women. We need to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States immediately to make sure this doesn't happen to our treasured institution.

Immigration, Classes, and Belfast

This post is going to be all over the place.

First, I'm a bit frustrated right now because I just wasted an hour in line to register with the Irish Immigration department. Anyone staying here over 90 days has to register with immigration so the Irish government can make sure we're not trying to move here and mooch off their services. We need to prove we're actually a student and can support ourselves. So, after getting all my forms filled out, I had to walk to the Garda (police) station and wait in line. The walk wasn't bad, only about 1k, but after waiting in line for an hour and getting to the front, they announce they're closing and are not going to take anyone else, because it was 4:00 PM, when they close (it was actually 3:55). So, they sent about 20 of us home without bothering to tell people who had no chance of registering that they were wasting their time waiting. Now I need to go do this all again on Monday morning.

On a different topic, my class schedule is finalized now, here are my list of courses:

1. Introduction to Modern Irish
2. Introduction to French
3. Culture, Literature, and Language of Ireland.
4. Moral Responsibility
5. Citizenship and Human Rights
6. Theories and Origins of Democracy and Ideology

The first three are courses specifically made for visiting students, and the last three are with actual Irish students.

Finally, I reserved my spot on the trip to Belfast that Arcadia University is organizing. It's heavily subsidized, and for only 20 euro, I get transportation, accommodation, a few meals, and some guided tours. It's a great deal and should be a fantastic trip. Below is the itinerary:

Arcadia Belfast Field Trip
27/02/09 - 01/03/09
Itinerary
Nestled on the coast below Cave Hill and the Black Mountain, Belfast is a vibrant city where the
hospitality is legendary and the warmth of the people is genuine. Dramatically transformed in recent
years, Northern Ireland’s capital is a warm and welcoming place just waiting to be discovered.
Day 1
Friday
February 27th
8:45 a.m. Depart Deanshall, Cork for Belfast
4:30 p.m. Arrive in Belfast, check into Belfast International Hostel
6:00 p.m. Dinner at Jury’s Inn Group 1
7:30 p.m. Dinner @ Jury’s Inn Group 2


Day 2
Saturday
February 28th
8:00 a.m. Breakfast at the Youth Hostel
Depart the Hostel for Field Trip to the North Coast and the Giant’s Causeway.
10:15 a.m. Guided tour of the Giant’s Causeway
Stop in the scenic village of Portrush for lunch on return to Belfast.
7:00 p.m. Depart hostel by coach travel to Dinner in The Edge restuarant.
Day 3
Sunday
March 1st
9:00 a.m. Breakfast at the Hostel
9:30 a.m. Check out and depart by coach for Wellington Park Hotel.
Talk and Slide presentation on the rich culture of Belfast’s Murals, with Professor
Bill Rolston.
Followed by a Q&A session.
This session will orientate you to the unique political and cultural background of Belfast and
Northern Ireland. It will address the history of the conflict and will clarify the main players:
political parties, paramilitary organisations and the communities that they represent. This
will help create a context for the guided tour.
12:00 p.m. Lunch at The Wellington Park Hotel
12:45 p.m. Board coaches for a Guided tour of Belfast City.
Guided by Belfast City Guides, we will explore the city of Belfast. We will visit the political
murals of East and West Belfast including the Catholic Falls and Protestant Shankill roads.

c.3pm – Depart Belfast for Cork



Accommodation
Belfast International Hostel
22-32 Donegal Place
Belfast
Tel: 048 903154354

Faucet Frustration

Almost all the sinks here have separate faucets for hot and cold water. This is an awful system. Rather than adjust the temperature to anywhere on a spectrum of hot or cold, I am forced to choose between scalding hot water leaving my hands with third-degree burns, or a freezing blast of water in an already cold country. The superiority of one faucet is clear.

Homestay

This weekend Arcadia arranged a homestay for all the students with different Irish families. My friend Dylan and I stayed with an Irish couple who lived in a rural area outside of Buttervant, Co. Cork. Undoubtedly the best experience I've had in Ireland so far.

The husband's name is Philip, and he's originally from a rural area outside of Dublin. He moved to Co. Cork years ago after he married Mary. Mary's family has a farm in the area, and her sister and her husband live just down the road from her. Most other family members of hers seemed to live in the area. Both Mary and Philip work in Cork city, a 45-minute commute.

After a late start Saturday, we were given a short tour of the family dairy farm. We saw the cows, which are pregnant right now, and the milking machines. Then, we went to a local public park in the area for a walk. The park was formerly an English estate. The park was beautiful and well-kept, but knowing the park's history can make the view a bit darker. Essentially, the land was taken by the English and then they gave the land to an English noble to rule. There was a huge manor house and a beautiful walk up to it. As Philip said, "Beautiful front yard to have. You can imagine riding your horse-drawn carriage up to it. Just make sure you kick the peasants out of your way." Everyone who worked on the estate was forced to live in a series of small houses in Buttervant, and the English ruler got the large estate house. Beating Irish peasants was common.

That being said, the whole area is still beautiful. The best part of my homestay came Saturday night. After dinner, we went to a local pub, O'Neill's, where we met up with the rest of the family. This pub was about as traditional as they come. It was also a small gorcery store, and you had to walk past the grocery area and open up a door in the back to get to the pub area. We then went to another pub. Philip warnedd me that there would be bad music, and that's an understatement. There was a singer who brought a synthesizer to play the accompanying music. I still can't get the synthesized Danny Boy out of my head. But even though the musi was bad, I still had a great time laughing with everyone about it, and it was great to have the experience. Then, we got a taxi back to the house. A family friend came over with a guitar, and we ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking and singing. The experience was great, I felt like the family really bonded with Dylan and me. Their hospitality was touching.

Here's a special note for my mother. I was talking with an Irish man in O'Neill's about American perceptions of Ireland. He complained that American movies made images of Ireland that don't exist. I asked if Waking Ned Devine would be a good example, and he said, "Yeah, that movie is a load of shite!" I asked for another example of a stupid American characterization of Ireland and he mentioned The Quiet Man, accompanied by a finger in his mouth and a gagging expression. "Nothing like that ever existed!"

Week in Dublin

I just spent my first few days in Ireland in Dublin. After Arrival Sunday morning, I really didn't have anything to do until Tuesday morning. I spent the week exploring Dublin.

Unfortunately, much of what I wanted to see was closed for the holidays. I couldn't see the Book of Kells or some of the museums. However, I think I'll get back to Dublin and be able to explore those areas. I did get to see the Guinness Storehouse, the Trinity College campus, St. Stephens Green, and bunch of places that are in Joyce novels. Unfortunately, I haven't realy read any Joyce yet, but I'll get around to that. The rest of the students and I who are on the UCC program brought in the new year by pub hopping in the area around our hostel. It was a great time, some old Irish guy gave me an entertaining lecture on politics.

One night we went out, I started talking to some young Irish people I met. I told them I was from Chicago, and their first reaction was, "Do you follow the NFL? I love Devin Hester!" I didn't even know anyone here watched the NFL, but it was a easy point to bond over.

Orientation was fine, but it is really expensive in Dublin. I'm really banking on Cork being a bit cheaper.

I arrived in Cork this morning. It looks pretty cool, not too much else to say yet.