An Irish Horse Adventure!

The Irish Countryside on Horseback

I forgot to write in my Cork blog about my adventures the weekend before my trip to Cork, so I am adding just a short post.  The weekend before last I stayed in Galway, and decided that I really wanted to explore the city and surrounding area more.  So, on that Saturday a big group of my friends decided to go horseback riding at the Feeney’s Equestrian Centre about 20 minutes outside of Galway city. 

We all met at our friend’s apartment in Galway City Centre and then grabbed a couple of cabs out to the countryside.  I truly had no idea how close the countryside was!  It was like instead of walking straight to my apartment, you just took one turn and suddenly all you could see for miles and miles were grassy hills, cattle and sheep, and rows of crumbling stone walls. 

Me and Pearl

Once we got to Feeney’s Equestrian Centre we were all paired with a horse.  I got a really old horse named Pearl, and boy was she a beauty!  She even had 2 different color eyes, one blue and one brown.  The one problem with Pearl?  She was OLD...about the same age as me, which is getting up there for a horse.  I had to really push her to keep up with pack, but hey I didn’t blame her for being a bit cranky…I certainly wouldn’t have been pleased if someone was riding on MY back!  Pearl and I bonded for sure ☺.  We rode up the gravel street outside of the horse farm after doing a few turns around the ring and headed up the road to a beautiful view for a group picture, but then we really got into the ride.  Our young leaders (they were probably all of about 12 or 13) led us through bramble and brush, up and down hills, through mud (Pearl did everything in her power to avoid the mud...let me tell you.  She even hit my leg against a tree branch leaving a massive bruise in her efforts to avoid the gunk!), and essentially all through the Irish countryside.  Boy, was it beautiful.

All of Us Equestirans
From Left to Right: Jaime, Caitlin, Logan, Katrina, Cassie, Annie, Nicole, Sally, Me, and Jason

Now it was a chilly day that day…ok slight understatement it was freezing and drizzly but I’ve learned in Ireland that unless the wind is knocking you over then the day is fair to middling (plus it never hurts to look at the silver lining of the rain cloud ☺).   Anyways, so since it was so cold the horseback ride did get challenging at times especially since our hands were turning red and blue with the cold!  I did feel a bit worse for the younger kids who were leading some of the newer riders’ horses…they had to climb and jump through massive puddles and slip through mud all in that cold!  So, finally despite the beauty of the surroundings we did get a bit tired of being chilly and we all headed back to the farm where those who wanted to gallop were allowed to try some jumps (I really wanted to, but BOY was Pearl stubborn…she was not having it.).  All in all though, it was a GREAT experience and one I would definitely recommend for anyone wanting to see the true glory of the Irish countryside.

Now, Saturday was a tough day to beat, I mean horseback riding was amazing.  Sunday though, my roommate Maria and I decided to further our Galwegian adventures by venturing out more into the city.  So, we went to mass at Galway Cathedral, which is an amazing stone cathedral building right across the street from my university.  After the ceremony we wandered into the city and attempted to go to the Nora Barnacle house (the house of Yeats’ wife when he proposed to her) but it was closed for the winter season.  So then we tried to look at the castle that is in the city…but it was turned into a bank and you can’t really go into it.  So finally, we appeased ourselves by going for a pizza lunch at a cute little buy-by-the-slice joint, and then checking out Charlie Byrne’s secondhand bookstore.  This bookstore is the way all bookstores should be.  You can buy fabulous reading material, even textbooks for class for amazing prices like 10 euro!  I even bought some books published in the late 1800s and early 1900s (I bought 2 old detective novels one written in 1880 and the other in the 1920s) for literally only 2 or 3 euro!  This is definitely some place that if I allowed myself, I would go EVERY DAY…yeah if you can’t tell I nerded out a bit. 

Alright, I’ll take a break from posting and stop bothering you all for a bit.  I just HAD to write about this when I realized that I had forgotten!

Cork: The Land of my Fathers

The Finnigans are from Cork

Before I left home to come to Ireland, my grandfather gave me one of his old guidebooks from when he and my grandmother visited Ireland.  He also told me a little bit about Irish history, and our own family’s heritage.  For one thing he told me that the Finnigans (his father’s side) were from Cork, and the Comiskys (his mother’s side) were from Sligo.  Well, this past weekend I had the opportunity to explore the county of my ancestors when I went with a group of friends for an overnight trip in Cork. 

We left Galway Saturday morning on a 10:30am bus headed for Cork.  After a week of somewhat questionable weather (it had been pretty cloudy) it was an absolutely gorgeous day!  The Irish countryside seemed to gleam green through the bus windows…well that is until I passed out about half an hour into the bus ride.  I dozed on and off for the entire 3 ½ hour bus ride from Galway to Cork.  At one point when I woke up I heard a couple of the girls doing a “psychoanalysis exercise” where one girl asked the other some questions that the other had to answer quickly without thinking about it.  I decided to join in, and here were my answers.

1. You are walking through a forest and run into an angry Grizzly Bear, what do you do?
   I run away! 
2. After you see the Grizzly Bear you are walking through the forest and you happen upon a key on the ground, what does this key look like?  Give a description.
   It’s small and old-fashioned. 
3. Suddenly you come to a clearing and you see a cottage.  You enter the cottage, what does it look like inside?
   It’s welcoming and comfortable.  
4. Right next to the cottage is a beach.  What does the ocean look like?
   It’s a calm day, with very few waves.

Now #1 apparently stands for how you react to conflict, #2 for your ego, #3 for how people see you, and #4 for your love life.  All in all this was relatively accurate for me.  I do have the tendency to run from conflict in order to avoid it, and my ego/self-confidence is relatively small.  Usually people do seem to think I’m welcoming, and it’s a calm day at my love life beach!  All in all this was kind of a funny activity, especially when some people’s were so spot on.  One girl said that she would curl up in a fetal position if she saw the bear, and she definitely tries to hide from conflict!

Cork!

Anyways, we got into Cork City Centre at about 2pm.  Immediately after arriving we all marveled that Cork looked so different from Galway, and even from Dublin.  It is a much more modern looking city, appearing almost European, however with the massive hills and brightly colored houses it looked almost like San Francisco to me!  We got off the bus at St. Patrick’s Quay and walked only about 3 blocks until we got to the Killarney House hostel where we would be staying.  The 8 of us were put into a 10 person with the promise that 2 random people would be stuck in later that day, however they never showed up, so we didn’t have any awkward sleeping arrangements.  This hostel was pretty nice, our room had its own bathroom that was clean, so already it was a step up from the hostel we stayed at in Paris, and free breakfast was served from 7-9:30am. 

After checking in and dropping off our stuff our group pow-wowed about what we really wanted to do while in Cork.  The two things that everyone had really locked into were visiting Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone, and going to Fota Wildlife Park.  At first it was kind of unclear whether or not both were going to be possible, as with our late arrival we worried that we wouldn’t be able to be admitted to either place on Saturday afternoon.  However, after a quick survey of the bus schedule to Blarney we realized we could get there in plenty of time.  So, the 8 of us walked down the street where our hostel was and hurried to get a quick bite to eat before our bus ride to Blarney.  As we walked down the street the bells from the nearby cathedral began to ring…suddenly I realized that the bells were playing the tune of “Three Blind Mice!”  After grabbing a quick bite from a hole in the wall fast-food joint, we walked down and crossed the river to get to City Centre, and the bus station. 

A quick 10 minute bus ride later, we were in the small town of Blarney.  It was green EVERYWHERE, and from the bus stop you could see Blarney Castle in the distance.  Now I can’t quite describe to you the beauty of Blarney Castle’s grounds.  The castle itself is impressive, that is for sure; there is a reason that it is Ireland’s most photographed spot.  First of all, there is no guided tour through this castle.  No, you get to climb around for yourself.  Go through every passage that you want, climb through secret passages, and into the dungeon (I did!).  The staircases are winding, steep, and narrow, but everytime you peek out of one of the slit windows your breath is taken away by the vastness of the rolling hills and the lush trees.  After exploring the banquet hall, the chapel, the numerous bed rooms, and many other old rooms, we finally climbed to the top of the castle.  The view was spectacular.  You could see the Irish countryside for miles around you, with colorful dots of houses far off in the distance, and the flora of the region lush and green.  Then we noticed an old man kneeling at the wall of the tower…he was the helper put there to ensure that tourists who want to kiss the Blarney Stone don’t fall to their deaths.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

For those of you who don’t know, the Blarney Stone is a famous tourist attraction in Ireland that holds a mythical place in Irish folklore.  It is said that if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will be given the “gift of gab,” in other words you’ll become more eloquent.  Now, no one of ever told me that kissing the Blarney Stone was going to be half a work out, and half a terrifying feat.  You can’t just bend over and kiss the stone, no you have to grasp two metal bars and bend backwards with the assistance of a trained helper in order to kiss the Blarney Stone safely.  This helper didn’t rush his job, no no.  He flirted with every single girl that went up to kiss the stone, which let’s face it, mostly girls went to kiss it.  Man he was enjoying himself!

Climbing the Wishing Stairs

Well after having the gift of gab bestowed upon me (although looking back on past blog entries I wonder if the Stone could actually do much?), we set out to explore the castle grounds more, and wow they could stand alone as one of the most amazing places to visit.  We walked through what truly seemed to be an enchanted forest; it just seemed to be magical…like something you’d see in a Disney film about fairies!  I swear Tinkerbell was about to pop out of nowhere!  Here we came upon what are known as the “Wishing Stairs.”  You are supposed to walk up the stairs, and then down the stairs backwards thinking only of your wish.  If you do this then your wish is supposed to be granted within the year.  Most of us decided to do it, and boy it was a tad bit scary going down stairs backwards!  If you want to know what my wish was, sorry.. it’s bad luck to share a wish!  I’ll let you know when it gets granted though. ☺

St. Finn Barre's Cathedral

After thoroughly roaming Blarney, we all headed back to Cork where we all agreed that we were starving and ready for dinner!  Now, one strange thing about Cork that again reminds me of San Francisco, is that there are Asian restaurants EVERYWHERE!  Now, one thing that Ireland is lacking is some legitimate Chinese food, and we were all kind of craving it, so we went and at a place called The Golden Chopsticks.  Not bad at all, now they didn’t have my beloved potstickers, but their Mandarin Beef wasn’t half bad!  After eating ourselves silly we all went back to the hostel to get ready for a night out in the “Dance Capital of Ireland.”  To cut a long story short though, one girl didn’t get into the club that night because she didn’t have her Passport with her and she doesn’t have a Garda ID Card (Irish government registration card) because she has dual citizenship, so a bunch of us went back with her to enjoy late night milkshakes at Eddie Rockets instead.  I hadn’t been that excited to go out, so for me it was kind of the perfect ending to a fun day!

Sunday morning one of the other girls, Meg, and I got up and went to 8am Mass at a nearby Catholic church, the Church of the Ascension.  Now we had no idea this service would be so short, but I guess since it’s all pretty much old people at this time the priest cut out the music from Mass, so it was all done in half an hour.  After that we roamed the streets of City Centre until everyone else was up at about 10.  We saw the famous St. Fin Barre's Anglican Cathedral, and found a pub called "Sober Lane" that had rock paper scissor tournaments!  Then we all packed up our stuff from the hostel and went to the railroad station that would take us to Fota.

All of us at Fota Wildlife Park
From Left to Right: Hannah, Katrina, Logan, Jaime, Sally, Me, Cassie, Meg

Petting a Kangaroo!

Now, to clear up any confusion… Fota is not a zoo.  No, I did not go to Cork to go to a zoo.  Fota is a wildlife park, and yes there IS a difference.  At Fota many of the animals are roaming free in very large spaces, and they can interact with visitors.  For instance the monkeys and birds are all pretty free to roam; even the kangaroos can hop where they wish!  Now, the cheetahs and giraffes are still separated, and the zebras have an electric fence keeping them in, but still the experience is very different.  At Fota I saw everything from the mundane duck to a red panda (I hadn’t even heard of this animal before), and capybara (the world’s largest rodent).  It was somewhere that honestly both adults and children would love…I absolutely loved it, and I could see my 7 year old sister being in complete awe.  The highlight of the day: I PET A KANGAROO!  That’s right.. I actually pet a kangaroo..in Ireland!  The kangaroos were just hopping around eating food from the grass, and I just let one sniff my hand (much as you would a dog) and then it let me pet it.  It was such a cool experience!

After going to Fota there wasn’t much time to continue exploring Cork before our 6pm bus back to Galway (and we really couldn’t miss the bus because it was the last of the evening).  So we headed back to the city and divided into 2 groups for dinner.  One group really wanted to go to Thai food, while my group didn’t want Asian food again.  So Meg, Cassie, and I grabbed our bags from the hostel’s luggage room and headed off in search of dinner.  We found Gambienis, a small Italian restaurant, and we gorged ourself on pizza and pasta.  I had a Spicy Meat Pizza with jalepenos on it…it was not only delicious, but it was also the first legitimately spicy thing I’ve eaten in Ireland (the Irish don’t really know REAL spicy food).  After dinner we hustled back to St. Patrick’s Quay and hopped on our bus.  I was all prepared for a nice nap, when the girl behind me began to talk.  Loudly.  And she didn’t stop for the ENTIRE trip home….oi vey.  Oh well, I managed to drift off for a few minutes at a time!

It was really fun to explore Ireland more instead of just going off to mainland Europe.  Stay on the look out for more Ireland adventures, because this coming weekend I’m off to Northern Ireland!

Extra-Curriculars are Extra Fun!

When I came to Ireland and started my studies at the National University of Ireland in Galway I knew that I didn’t want to simply go to class and then travel abroad.  I wanted to create a home for myself at the university just as I did when I began my time at USC.  So I made a point of signing up for any club (or “society” as they call it here) that I found interesting, and I found three: Choral Society, International Student Society, and SIN the Student Newspaper.  Well I haven’t found inspiration to write an opinion piece for the newspaper (they really want me to write a piece about Ireland or the university from the point of view of an American), so I haven’t truly gotten involved with that group.  But in a week I’m heading off on a discounted trip to Northern Ireland with the International Student Society, and I attend rehearsal for Choral Society each week.

Choral Society is going so well partly because I became even more involved with the group by becoming Vice-Secretary.  Now I don’t have a whole lot of responsibility, basically I just take notes when the Secretary can’t be there, and I’m the photocopier, but the benefit of being on the Executive Committee is that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know some of the other singers better.  Wow what a great group!  The society is really filled with friendly and funny people!  I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them, and we even have a night out on the town every other week after Tuesday night rehearsal.  We go to a local pub and eat free food, relax, and get to know each other.  I’ve also gone to a concert at the campus bar with some of them, and it’s definitely a good way to get to know other students, not just international American students!  We rehearse every Tuesday evening from 6-8pm, and thus far we’ve learned 3 songs with 2 more in the works.  Thus far we are singing “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho,” a Swedish lullaby called “Vargsangen” translated to “The Wolf Song,” and the popular Beetles song “With a Little Help from my Friends” (I have a solo in this one!).  Last week we even performed them!  It was Múscailt, a week-long festival on campus celebrating the arts (both visual and performance), so we did almost what American students would call a “dorm storm” where we went to 5 popular places on campus and just started singing.  It was pretty successful, although not as many people showed up to sing as we would’ve liked, but hey it WAS in the middle of the day!   Two weeks ago the choir was also recorded singing “Vargsangen” so here’s the link if you’d like to hear our talent:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4539985/01%20Vargs%C3%A5ngen.mp3

Although I wouldn’t necessarily classify my work at the local Homework Club as “extra-curricular” since it is partly for a class, I still thought I’d give a quick update.  Last week and this week were fabulous.  Last week I worked with the same little girl named Cody that I’ve been working with for a while now, and another little boy named Kuku (pronounced like Cuckoo).  We had a lot of fun getting their homework done, while they asked me if I lived next door to Hannah Montana and other famous Americans that they assumed I was best friends with!  At one point Kuku wanted help with his Irish homework, when he learned that I didn’t know any Irish he and Cody were appalled and Kuku suddenly declared, “Well if I have to do my homework, you have to too” and he made me a worksheet of my own.   He copied down Irish words that he thought I should know and told me to copy them a few times, and then he made me memorize what they meant.  For instance, “bia” is “food” and “fia” is “deer.”  That day when I left, Cody ran up to me and said “Caitlin, I don’t want to leave you!”  I promised that I would see her every Tuesday, and she smiled made me pinky swear.  This week when I walked in Cody grinned and stood up saying, “Caitlin, over here!”  I walked over and before I had even sat down Cody began talking a mile minute, “Ok, so I have some news.  Last week I went to my aunts.  I played with my cousin and we went swimming.  He accidently punched me, but I know he didn’t mean to etc…”  After about 5 minutes of nonstop chatter she turned to me and sweetly asked “So what about you?  Do you have any news?”  Suddenly she was like my little sister, and it made my heart ache a bit.  Cody is an only child in a low-income household, and its clear that she craves attention and approval.  I only hope that I can help to provide a bit of that for her while I’m here.

Apart from my volunteer work and my involvement in societies, I have also rediscovered a lost love of mine from childhood.  For those of you who don’t know, I Irish danced competitively when I was younger, from about Kindergarten until third grade when we moved to Northern California from Pasadena.  I LOVED Irish dance, and I wasn’t too bad at it.  Now, this wasn’t the last time I danced.  In fact, when my high school had us do a senior project where we could do anything from a research project to creating a piece of art I decided to relearn Irish dance.  I went back to class with 7 year olds and rediscovered my love of the art form.  However, once my project was done and I graduated I again put up my soft shoes.  So, when I came to Ireland I figured what better time to start dancing again!  So, now I am taking a beginner’s class on Thursday nights from 6-7pm (it’s fairly easy but I’m not quite ready for the intermediate level as I never learned my hard shoes).  After my first class I also decided to ask the instructor if she would give private lessons, so now I’m taking private lessons on Thursday afternoons.  My teacher’s name is Gillian, and she’s a 22-year-old med student at NUIG.  This in and of itself is pretty impressive, but not only is she a full-time med student while teaching Irish dance on the side, she is an amazing dancer in her own right and is a member of the dance group that popularized Irish dance and made it world-famous, Riverdance.  In fact, she had to cancel my lesson for this week because she is in the Middle East traveling with Riverdance.  Thus far I’ve already learned 3 dances, and we are working hard to FINALLY get me into hard shoes for the first time.  I’m completely enjoying this.  Below is a video of Gillian doing one of the dances she’s teaching me (I recorded her doing it so that I could practice while she is gone and ensure that I wouldn’t forget anything).

Well, I’ll be writing again soon, but this is just a small update about how extra-curricular life is going!

Passport to Paris

REMINDER: IF YOU CLICK ON ANY OF MY PICTURES THEY WILL OPEN LARGER IN A NEW WINDOW.

At the Ponte Alexandre w/ Eiffel Tower
From Left to Right: Caitlin, Me, Nicole, Cassie

Ok, so those of you who look at my Facebook at all have probably already seen the literally hundreds of pictures I recently posted of my weekend trip to Paris.  I had no idea how trigger happy I was with a camera; I took over 200 photos during my brief 3-day trip!  Anyways, this trip was not just a great tourist experience but a great moment of personal growth for me.  So here we go!

Now some of you readers who grew up in the 90s, or have children born in the 90s might recognize the title of this blog as the title of a popular Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen film.  Well when I was a “tween” I LOVED Mary Kate & Ashley (I mean I’m pretty sure I played pretend games where I was their long lost triplet), and I’ve seen this film about a billion times.  I even have favorite quotes from it that I’ve posted on Facebook, the best being: “Do you like your school?” “When the rain comes I am sad.”  So when packing for my own Paris trip, I decided what better way to get in the mood for a Parisian adventure then to turn on “Passport to Paris”?  It DEFINITELY got me into the mood to have some good old-fashioned tourist-y fun!

I went to Paris with a group of 12 people (all Americans and many from USC), but we were split up into two groups staying at different hostels.  As a result, there wasn’t really much overlap between the two groups, so I really only hung out with the girls that I stayed with (Cassie from Chicago, my roommate Caitlin, and Nicole from USC) and two of the guys from USC there, Jason and Kyle.  The large group had every intention of spending time together however, so when we were all arranging travel plans we booked the same flights and bus to Dublin Airport.  We booked an extremely early flight (at 6:35am) on Friday, February 4th.  The bus trip from Galway City Centre to Dublin Airport take about 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours flat, so we all decided to take a 1:15am bus to the airport.  As a result all 12 of us gathered at a couple of the girls’ apartment in the middle of city centre to relax and hang out that evening before walking to the Coach Station (Coach = Bus) at 12:30am.

Now of course as soon as my butt hit the bus seat, I was out like a light.  The airport was easy enough to navigate and getting through security was a quick enough process.  So soon enough we made it to our gate and had time to kill.  We all were starving at this point having most of us skipped dinner, so we scattered grabbing whatever food we could find.  Now being poor college students we all booked the cheapest flight available which was on an airline called Ryan Air.  The tickets only cost about 20€, but there’s a reason they’re so cheap!  You are only allowed 1 bag, no personal item.  Any more than that and you get charged up the wazoo.  There are also no seat assignments, it’s basically a mad rush to board the plane and pick the seats you want.  Oh!  And there really isn’t a true walkway to the airplane, no no Ryan Air does it old school.  You actually have to walk out into the freezing cold and climb the stairs to the plane!  It was ok though because it felt kind of like we were in an old black and white film, glamourously ascending the steps into our waiting plane (forget the fact that we all looked groggy and disheveled from lack of sleep and a long bus trip). 

After a quick hour and a half plane ride we landed at Paris Beauvais Airport!  I felt like I had blinked and we’d arrived, because of course as per usual I was asleep before the plane’s wheels had even left the ground!  At the airport our groups separated.  Nicole, Cassie, Caitlin, and I went off to fend for ourselves and determine a way into the city (this aiport is about an hour outside of the city) while the others had a private shuttle waiting to pick them up and take them to their hotel.  We quickly found the queue for the coach into the city, and bought a return ticket for our flight home, hurrying into the long line.  I do have to say this was well-organized, and we didn’t have to wait at all for a bus, which was spectacular.  After again napping on the bus, I awoke to a view of the Eiffel Tower as we pulled into Paris.  Wow…this was just the first out of many times I thought over the course of the weekend how amazing it must be to wake up and actually live in Paris.  You just wake up and look out your window…there’s the Eiffel Tower.  

Well, when our tired feet hit the ground in Paris the adventure truly began!  Now, perhaps we should’ve done a bit more pre-planning but the only information we had about where we were staying was its address that Nicole had taken a picture of with her pretty bad camera phone, and the name of the hostel “Young and Happy Hostel”.  After using my somewhat broken French to ask the bus driver where the Metro was, he pointed us in the general direction of the Metro’s entrance at Porte Maillot.  After descending into the depths of Paris’ metro the confusion started.  The ticket machine was broken, but before we could buy a ticket we needed to know what Metro line we should even get on and what stop to get off at!  So we wandered around the walkways in the Metro, a little bit nervously and probably more than a little bit crankily at least on my part (I know, I know, but I get cranky without my sleep!).  There happened to be a shopping center connected to the Metro station so we started wandering through there, where we finally found a janitor who through a combination of my broken French and his broken English we managed to get quasi-clear directions, and he even called our hostel for us!  At which point we knew we were going to be going on Line 7 but were unclear as to which stop to get off at. So we decided to wing it!  This all took about an hour and a half.  Then we went further into the Metro where we found an Information booth and clarified with them that we had to ride the Line 1 and then change at the Palais Royal stop and then switch to the Line 7 and get off at Place Monge.  

The Farmer's Market

Well, all that was easy enough once we got going.  I found that I was really remembering my French and I was easily able to read the signs around the Metro to find the necessary stops and such.  Soon enough we were climbing out of the depths of Paris’ underground network back into the daylight at Place Monge, and we didn’t just climb out onto a city street…no!  We walked out right into the middle of a farmer’s market!  And as we walked around in a bit of awe, an Asian grocer greeted us singing “Mademoiselles!  Mademoiselles!  Welcome!  Welcome!”  It was definitely the most unique welcome committee I think any of us had ever seen!  After asking one more person for clarifying directions we found our way to our hostel on Rue du Mouffetard, and realized that the Young and Happy Hostel was smack dab in the middle of the Latin Quarter of Paris, quite a fun and busy neighborhood! 

Well after finding our hostel and checking in we were informed that we wouldn’t be let into our room until 4:30 so we decided to go explore.  The four of us walked next door to a crepe restaurant and enjoyed a real Parisian meal, two of the girls getting Nutella and banana crepes while the other two of us satisfied ourselves with savory cheese and ham crepes (crepe du jambon fromage).  After enjoying our quick lunch I grabbed the map I had gotten from our hostel and figured out which Metro line to take in order to get us to the Louvre to do some exploring.  We got off at the Palais Royal Metro stop and wandered around.  We saw a statue of Charles de Gaulle, the famous French general who led the French Free Forces during WWII and we wandered past the Palais Royal and crossed the famous Pont Alexandre, the most sumptuous of all Parisian bridges.  

The "Triumphal Battery"

Now, I will admit, we got lost right about this time.  Or rather, I just didn’t know where to go from here, so we simply kept walking straight until we stumbled upon the Hôtel des Invalides which houses the Musée de l'Armée or the Military Museum.  Now, none of us want to go into the military (although Cassie does want to be a cop), nor do any of us really have a huge passion for military history so none of us really wanted to spend the money to partake in the museum’s exhibits.  However, we did walk around the exterior of the grounds and the inner courtyard, which was free, and not only was the architecture incredible, but the actual military aspects were fascinating.  For instance, the building had stone statues of armor around the entirety of the façade, and at the front of the museum there was a collection of “triumphal battery” or cannons from former French enemies.  This collection even had a Chinese cannon!

The Merry-Go-Round

After our brief immersion into French military culture, I once again assumed the position of tour guide and grabbed my handy dandy map (I really should’ve started singing the Dora Explorer Map Song in Paris because I used this thing until it fell apart!).  This time we walked towards the Louvre.  Again, none of us were particularly anxious to submerge ourselves in art, so we stayed in the park.  However, before entering the park we saw a large Ferris Wheel and a lot of tourist gift tents, one of them being a candy store.  Now I have a massive sweet tooth and immediately wanted to try strange French candy, so I bought a big bag and we all chewed strange gummies, and pulled apart a long neon turquoise candy rope that had a soft filling.  I think the sugar may have triggered something in our brains and we all immediately went into child mode, because the next thing I knew we had found the famous Louvre merry go round in the park and had paid for a ride.  I think the operator was so amused by our antics that he just gave us a free extra ride! 

At Dinner
Left to Right: Nicole, Me, Caitlin

After such high energy antics we decided we were all still pretty knackered from our trip and we decided to head back to our hostel, where the other girls napped while I read.  We also met our roommates (we were in a 6 person room, so were sharing it with 2 Brazilian boys...slightly awkward, but they were really sweet).  After our rest time we were starving and ventured across the street to a cute little café for what we assumed would be a quick dinner. Silly us!  I forgot that French people take FOREVER to eat!  We were literally there for 2 hours!!  But the food was fantastic; I had piece de boeuf avec sauce poivre and crème brulee for dessert.  Basically, I just had beef with a pepper sauce and a vanilla cream custard dessert.  This was definitely a confidence booster though, because I ordered everyone’s meals in French and was the one who conversed with the waitress. Although there was one awkward moment when Caitlin attempted to order her crème brulee and I guess our American accents saying it just completely confused our poor waitress and even after repeating ourselves 5 times she still didn’t understand us!

After our leisurely meal we headed back to the hostel to change and get ready for a night out on the town.  Here we met up with our roommates and some of their Brazilian friends and we all decided to go to a local bar called Cap Rouge.  However once we got there we realized how exhausted we all truly were, and the language barrier while manageable during the day is absolutely impossible at night in a club scene.  Now, my French was MUCH better than I had expected, and I could understand most things people said to me, but when it was said to me in a slurred manner…now that was a whole other story!  So the four of us decided to call it an early night and go hit the hay!

The next morning we woke up for our free breakfast at the hostel and then hurried to the Metro station to meet the two boys at the Palais Royal Metro stop.  But…as seems to be the case with men, they were late, so we waited in the station for a while.  But when they finally did show up we jumped on the train they were on and we all headed for the Place Denfert-Rochereau stop; we were going to the Paris Catacombs! 

Time for some background.  The Paris Catacombs is a huge underground burial site underneath the city of Paris that is home to the remains of about 6 MILLION PEOPLE.  Now the bones aren’t just tossed into some hole in the ground, the catacombs are the result of moving massive amounts of bones from Paris’ many underground cemeteries (it was common practice for the French to bury their dead in this fashion) into old and unused mine tunnels.  The result is that tourists can now descend 84 stairs into the old mines and wander a confusing spiraled circuit of tunnels until reaching the main network of Catacomb Tunnels.

The bones are taller than me!

When we entered the Catacombs from the plain mining tunnels there was a carved sign above the entrance reading “"Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Stop, this is the empire of Death').  Definitely a fitting quote and it pretty much hushed us all up.  This sight was just too incredible to put into words.  The bones aren’t just thrown into heaps, they are beautifully aligned in order to make walls that can reach past your head.  Arm and leg bones are stacked together and skulls are scattered throughout.  Now obviously this haunting beauty is also quite creepy.  I mean some of these skulls even have teeth!  So, the boys were definitely enjoying scaring all of the girls and there were plenty of echoing squeals through the tunnels as Jason and Kyle proceeded to jump out at all the wrong moments!

After scaring ourselves silly in the underground tunnels, we stopped off at an Italian restaurant where I once again ordered for most people in French and earned my nickname, “Mom”.  Everyone decided to dub me Mom because I was leading everyone everywhere, ordering for people, speaking to everyone in French, and just generally taking charge.  Now, not that I really want to have a group of 5 20 and 21 year olds as my children, but it was kind of sweet that they all trusted me so much (good thing I knew what I was doing!).  Others also got their nicknames that day during lunch; Cassie was given the nickname Snooki, as in the reality television star from MTV’s Jersey Shore because she sports a “pouf”.  Nicole was named “hood rat” and “Casper” because she is really pale and perhaps the least intimidating or “gangster” person there is.  Kyle was nicknamed Bigalo from Deuce Bigalo the Male Gigalo movie because he is so popular with the ladies here, and finally Jason was nicknamed Cheesyberg because he always tells such cheesy jokes and his last name is EllenBERG.  Caitlin sadly left Paris without a nickname, because we didn’t want to force one and nothing seemed to fit.

After a delicious lunch of veal saltimbocca and pasta, the boys insisted that we walk all the way to the Arc de Triomphe from the Catacombs, because it would be more fun than taking the Metro.  Now, we all did really enjoy ourselves at first, but this walk ended up being basically an hour and a half almost 2 hour walk and over 4 miles…kind of excessive.  The boys did entertain us though by jumping over sidewalk barriers and suddenly darting into the street to cross.  In fact, Jason and Caitlin decided to sprint across an entire roundabout instead of using the crosswalk and Caitlin ran so fast that when she reached the other sidewalk her foot slipped on a piece of wet cardboard and she ate it right in front of a crowded café…definitely one of the funnier moments of the day!

Paris Louis Vuitton Storefront
2005

Paris Louis Vuitton Storefront
2011

We walked a LONG ways when we finally got to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées where all of the fashionable shopping and such is.  The last time I was in Paris back when I was a freshman in high school (6 years ago) Louis Vuitton was just building a large store there, and had made it look like one giant suitcase.  Now I got to see the actual store!  On our way to the Arch we saw a group of street performing dancers who got shut down by the police as soon as they were about to start dancing..that was kind of a bummer!  But they were funny!  We walked up the long street to the Arch where we relaxed for a bit and just looked at it (I wanted to climb to the top but no one else would go), until we all decided to take a break at a nearby café.  We sat and snacked for a bit until it got dark and we decided to put our big plan into action.

Arc de Triomphe
Left to Right: Caitlin, Cassie, Nicole, Jason, Kyle, Me

From Left to Right:
Caitlin, Cassie, Nicole, Me,
Jason, Kyle

We all had this fabulous idea for Saturday night in Paris.  We would make a picnic lunch out of fresh bread, charcuterie meats and cheeses, get some wine and just sit out in front of the Eiffel Tower.  Well we couldn’t find markets open at that hour, so instead we went to the wine store and bought some cheap €2 wine and a bottle of champagne, and then went to a nearby crepe cart.  There people bought paninis, crepes, and hotdogs for their meals.  I had a hotdog but instead of a gross old bun they put it in a fresh baguette!  Mm…delicious!  Then for dessert I got a beignet (basically a French donut filled with chocolate).  And then we all sat out on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower just eating, relaxing, and laughing for about an hour or two.  This was hands-down the most memorable part of my trip.  It was so relaxed and we all just got to enjoy eachother’s company without having to sit a restaurant table and struggle with French or deal with loud tables nearby.  Instead we got to sit there and marvel at one of man’s greatest accomplishments.  And, as if it wasn’t perfect enough…the Eiffel Tower actually suddenly twinkled with hundreds of little blue lights on top of the plane glow that I’ve always seen in photographs.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, pretty up there with the Cliffs of Moher.  I added a video of it so you can see what it looked like!

After eating we all decided to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower because I mean how could we not?  Now all of us were ready for this, but my roommate Caitlin is petrified of heights.  I am as well, but it almost helped me to have her fear so prominent because I got to worry about helping her instead of thinking of my own fear!  There were definitely some tricky moments for her, and we had to help her do some deep breathing, but with some coaching and pep talks, she made it to the top!  Definitely a triumph in my book!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Saturday’s nightlife was pretty much a bust after the Eiffel Tower, although we did try to hit some clubs or bars.  We went to Cap Rouge again and attempted to dance in the underground Discotheque, but it was too hot!  The camera even fogged up there was so much sweat in the air!  The boys were also distressed by the lack of girls, so they wanted to leave. 

Now Sunday was the most personally rewarding day for me.  In the morning the four of us got up at about 11am.  Nicole and I bought crepes for breakfast at the stand next door and I devoured my chocolate banana crepe!  Caitlin and Cassie wanted something a little different, so we leisurely walked over to the farmer’s market near the Metro station.  They bought some fruit and marble cake, while I bought fresh French bread and the creamiest brie I have ever tasted!  Then we all hopped on the metro to go to Notre Dame Cathedral for 12:45 mass.  Now, I’m not a baptized Catholic, but the rest of the girls were, and I myself have a historical interest in the church, while simultaneously finding mass an incredibly centering experience.  So, I witnessed mass in probably the single most gorgeous Cathedral that there is.  It was wonderful, but the best part?  I actually understood most of it, even though it was in French!  When all of the other girls were receiving Communion though, I snuck away and toured the rest of the building, joining the throngs of mostly Asian tourists cheerfully snapping photos of the priests distributing the host (yeah…they didn’t like that…). 

Gates of Versailles

After Mass, I had a defining moment of my trip.  One of the main sights I really wanted to see while in Paris was the Chateau de Versailles, the extravagant palace built by the so-called Sun King Louis XIV.  Now, the other group of people we had come with to Paris had forgotten that I wanted to go to Versailles and had gone the day before without telling me, and no one in my group wanted to make the trek out to Versailles, particularly to pay the entrance fee.  At first I began to resign myself to just stay with the group and go to the art museums, but then I realized something.  Why did I have to stick with the group?  I REALLY wanted to do this, and heck I’m the one that knows French!  So, I decided to go to Versailles alone.  So I hopped on the Metro and rode one stop over to the main station at Châtelet and then bought a railroad ticket to ride the RER out to Versailles.  I navigated my way through the crowded Metro staying very aware of my surroundings and asking any questions that I had in French.  And only an hour and a half later, I was in Versailles.  The immense pride that I felt when that train chugged up to the Versailles station is something that I don’t think that I can adequately portray through words. 

The Fascinating Door!

When I got to the Versailles station, all I had to do was follow the crowds over to the Chateau and I was set!  And a happy surprise awaited me at the gilded gold gates of Versailles; because it was the first Sunday of the month, entrance to any Parisian museum was free, and this extended to Versailles!  So I happily roamed the hallways and rooms of my historical fantasies for free.  I later told my friends that I just completely “nerded out” at Versailles.  I didn’t bother with the Audio Tour that would’ve led me through each individual painting in a room.  That didn’t interest me.  I just wanted to breathe the air, see the beds, walk the Hall of Mirrors, roam the gardens that Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, and all of the people I have studied for years once inhabited.  Perhaps the climax of my historical heaven was when I walked through the Queen’s apartments, and I noticed an ajar door to the left of the bed.  Now most people were focused on the extravagant trappings of the room, but the door is what instantly captivated me.  This is the door through which Marie Antoinette escaped to her husband’s apartments from the Parisian mob’s grasp during the 1789 bread shortage riot.  I can’t believe I actually saw that, and that I had such an opportunity.

A View of Palace from Gardens

After walking through the Chateau to my heart’s content I headed towards the gardens and I walked through that huge expanse of land.  I even walked through the orange grove, where I stopped to eat my makeshift lunch of my previously purchased bread and brie in between sculptured busts of Alexander the Great and Apollo.  It was here that I thought about the sheer beauty of the day.  The solitude was something new to me, usually I am someone always in a group; I don’t like to be alone.  But it was here that I came to an important realization.  Very few times in our lives are we honestly ever just focused on ourselves.  It’s not often that you get to relinquish responsibility or simply concern for others.  When you do have that opportunity it should not be wasted, it should be cherished. 

My Moral of the Day:
Sometimes you have to wander from the group to find your own happiness.

Watching the Super Bowl in Paris
From Left to Right: Jason, Nicole, Me

After all of my quiet contemplation I left Versailles and rejoined my friends at our hostel where we got dinner and hung out for a while before Caitlin and Cassie headed off to bed for the evening.  We had an early flight the next morning at 9:30am, so we had arranged to take a 6:30am bus.  Now, the Super Bowl was Sunday evening so Nicole, Jason, and I decided that instead of going to sleep for a few hours, we would go watch the big game!  So, we took a cab over to where some of our friends were supposed to be watching the game, but there was a huge entrance fee, so instead we wandered around until we came upon the Polly Magoo bar right near Notre Dame Cathedral.  There was a HUGE projector screen set up with the game playing, drinks and food were inexpensive, and it was free to get in.  It was also EMPTY with only a few groups.  The Americans were definitely hitting up more of the widely well-known American bars, but that suited us just fine.  So we relaxed and watched the Packers win (heck yeah! Take that Steelers!!! No dynasty for you!) before walking back to the hostel where Nicole grabbed a quick 45 mintues of shut-eye and I just packed up my stuff and began the process of getting us ready to go.

From here all that was left was a very chaotic trip back to Ireland.  I don’t want to sound like a Debbie Downer, nor do I want to spend too much time dwelling on the travel aspect of the trip but to summarize:
1.    Our taxi was late picking us up from our hostel.
2.    The buses had no organization to get on, people just mobbed them and as a result we didn’t get on the one we were supposed to.
3.    The line to get our Visa stamp at the airport was around the entire lobby area and the automatic door wouldn’t close, blowing us with cold air.
4.    The security line took forever.
5.    Our flight was supposed to board at 8:55, and we didn’t board until 9:45.

But hey, we made it home all in one peace and with a new life experience in our back pockets, so no matter what the trouble I think it evened out in the end!

 
 





À Bientôt!
Translation: See you soon!

Children are a Challenge in Every Country

One of the most interesting classes that I’ve enrolled in this semester here in Galway is one offered specifically to American students.  We not only have class twice a week where we learn about literacy acquisition, but we also are sent out into the Galway community to help local children at various homework clubs.  These are after school programs geared to students from lower income families that would otherwise not have somewhere to go after school to get a snack and have a quiet place to do their homework. Think of it like the Irish version of the Boys and Girls Club.  Well, I do a lot of community service in the US with the USC Helenes and other organizations, so I thought this class would be the perfect outlet for me to still be able to have this need met.  I just wanted to update you all on how it’s going so far!

I began my work at the Scoil Bhride (pronounced skawl breejeh) homework club on Tuesday, 25 January 2011.  After getting a bit lost and finally finding the school after wandering around for a while, I found the school and met Sister Margaret (the club’s leader).  I was immediately struck by how warm and welcoming Sister Margaret was, which helped to put me at ease for the afternoon.  However I really did not end up spending much time with her, nor did she actually learn my name.  In fact the entire process of getting settled that first day was very disorganized, and we were really just thrown into a classroom and urged to begin to help the children.  I did not meet the teacher in charge of the room, and wasn’t introduced to the group of students clustered around their desks; it made for quite an intimidating introduction to homework club.

As I walked awkwardly into the classroom one young boy immediately stood up, yelled that he needed help, and aggressively pointed at me to assist him.  As the other helpers scattered away from the already sensed “problem child” I cheerfully albeit reluctantly went to his side.  This was Brooklyn.  Throughout the rest of the session I would begin to realize that he was a bit of a ringleader with the other young boys in the room, rallying them all together to make inappropriate sexual and homophobic jokes.  In fact, during this session I had multiple interactions with Brooklyn and his friends there were unsavory at best.  A boy named Garreth wrote “Fuck you” on his maths homework (they say maths, not math), Garreth’s older brother Nicky called me gay, and Brooklyn kept mimicking sexual acts.  By the way, Brooklyn and Nicky are 10, while Garreth is only seven (the same age as my younger sister..which kind of sent me for a loop.  She would NEVER have gotten away with that!).  Herein lies what I foresee to be the largest challenge I will face at homework club.  How do I respond to such poor behavior?!  Well my attitude at the time was to not give the boys the attention they were so obviously seeking and instead to minimize the incidents, responding with quiet but firm rebukes like, “That’s not appropriate” or “We don’t speak like that here” etc….  I think it worked because they didn’t continue with the behavior and saw that I wasn’t about to be riled up or massively annoyed with whatever they did.  In fact, I think the children are so used to an immediate and loud rebuke from teachers that they almost don’t know how to handle quiet firmness.  We’ll see how it goes.

I did overall enjoy the experience though, and I’ve gone back once since.  I go every Tuesday in fact.  This past Tuesday I worked with a lovely 8 year old named Gendressa who was fascinated by the idea of university, and told me that she never thought she could go.  It was sad really, she had never heard of anyone going to college, and wanted to know everything about it.  I helped her with math and spelling, while encouraging and praising her efforts.  I imagined that my little sister Maire would have been a lot like her if Maire didn’t get all of the attention that she is so lucky to get.  Gendressa seemed to beam when I complimented her handwriting and we bonded over our shared love of singing.  So, I think my experience will vary week-to-week depending on which kids need help (I’ll always be with the same group in the same room though to give them some sort of stability).  

Anyways, moral of the story: teaching is HARD work, and I don’t think our society (particularly in the US) gives them nearly enough credit.  How those people have the patience to deal with young children all day while actually imparting knowledge AND remaining sane is truly impressive.  I mean, I know I could be a piece of work sometimes, could you imagine how your teachers dealt with you in your worst moments?

Language Lesson #1

Let's all learn how to speak like an Irishman!

Here’s a bit more slang that I’ve just learned and I wanted to keep everyone updated.

Challenge of the semester to all of you reading:
Use these key words and phrases in everyday life.  Let’s start a new trend in the States!

“That’s grand.”
Ok, so to all of us Americans this seems obvious.  It seems that they would be saying that something is fantastic, or marvelous.  Wrong.  “Grand” mean’s fine, or ok.  So, there’s not that much enthusiasm associated with “That’s grand.”  For instance if someone asked you to borrow a pen, you could reply “That’s grand,” but you wouldn’t be super excited to lend your pen, would you? 

Question of the Day: If this did happen, what would they say to thank you for allowing them to use your pen? (Answer to be revealed at the end of this blog post)
Hint: It’s the name of a classic American TV show….

“Brilliant”
Alright so THIS means something like “that’s great!” or “awesome!”  This expresses a happy emotion, unlike “that’s grand.”

“Class”
This means “cool” or “very good.”

“Fair play”
This is used to indicate approval with something someone has done or said.  For instance, if someone told you a funny joke or tells you a story where they told someone off, you could respond with “Fair play” or “Fair play to you.”

“Gas”
This does not mean gasoline or someone’s reason for their burping.  It actually means “fun.”  So when talking about a good night out or a fun party someone might way “That was a gas!”

“Slagging”
This means “kidding” or “making fun of.”  So, if someone is making fun of your outfit (say you’re looking particularly American wearing UGGS and a North Face jacket) as you soon as you start to get really annoyed they might say “Hey, I’m only slagging you.”

“Shifting”
Irish guys in pubs will try to get American girls with this ALL THE TIME.  They will come up to you and ask if you want to “shift.”  It means to make-out; definitely one of the more unexpected slang words!

“A Rubber”
This is an eraser!  NOT a condom!  So, this is important to remember especially when dealing with Irish children—they are asking to borrow each other’s erasers, not condoms! 

Answer to the Question of the Day: “Cheers!”