So, I've been in Ireland for almost 2 weeks now and I'm gradually getting used to being here. But, the best way for me to put down roots is to go running, and I've gone outside several times, when I'm not using my automatic gym membership. I've gotten my bearings for some of the area around Castletroy, but I'm more of a trail runner myself. I wasn't looking forward to 4 months of dodging traffic and feeling concrete sidewalk under my runners(what they call running shoes over here-I love it!). Then, I saw people running behind the greenhouse-not college students, either, they were community people. The greenhouse is in Kilmurry Village, so I figured I would go behind the village reception building on Fridy and see what I could find.
I think I've found my Irish Wells Woods. It's beautiful--there are miles of trail and I've yet to find an ending to it. I went left and ended up running through fields and then I ran past an abandoned castle wall! When I ran in the opposite direction, there's a great path that runs all the Limerick, but it's 4 or 5 miles away and I'm not trying to run 10 miles yet, so I haven't gone all the way. The trail follows the river, making it really easy to slow down and admire the Irish countryside. Most of the trees are covered with vines (which makes me think they are an invasive species, but I'm not sure yet), and if you run with the river on one side and a high, grown-over bank on the other, it feels like you're in Middle Earth. I found out that there are a lot of swans in this area, too! I was so excited when I saw the first ones; they're so beautiful! I'll try to post some pictures.
This lets me bring up another subject. Irish people and their dogs. In Eau Claire, I'm used to having to slow down when I pass someone with a dog, because their pet will either a)try to bite/bark at me or b)run with/after me. Over here, half the dogs are off leash, which made me a little nervous, but the dogs over here are extremely well-behaved. Most of them barely acknowledged my existence; they just followed their owner. It was impressive--I need to find out how they train their dogs over here. That's all I've got for now!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ireland 101
The first week of class is halfway done and I'm very grateful. Since we get to pick and choose, it feels a lot less stressful than the first week of class at the UW, but trying to get the right combination of modules(classes) is more difficult than it sounds. I was hoping to take more Irish culture classes, but I think I'll get two biology related ones, which will help in the long run.
I've learned a lot already, but not neccessarily scholarly things. I've learned that it's true, Irish boys do sing when they're drunk. Very loudly. It's entertaining for me, because mostly the boys stay upstairs by the kitchen, but it's hard for Megan and Jamie, our roommates that live on the top floor. They have to leave by 11pm, though, if they want to continue partying (campus rules). I've also learned that you can't leave a permanent marker with drunk Irish college boys, because they will decorate the kitchen walls with, um, colorful phrases. But the next morning, they usually clean up their messes. And by tomorrow night, we should have a newly painted kitchen. A few nights ago, I actually found myself alone in downtown Limerick with no idea of how to get back to the University, but thanks to a bartender and two very helpful women, I made my way back, with time to spare to get groceries. And know I've got a much better feel for how to get around Limerick. I've also learned how quickly a bag of apples and bananas will disappear and that there must be something addictive in my crackers and cookies.
Tonight, Rachel, Megan, Jamie, and I went out to the Scholar's Club, a pub on campus and listened to some traditional Irish music. It was our first night out, (even though we didn't leave campus, we were dressed up, so it counts!) and it was a lot of fun!! We each had a huge cup of hot chocolate, no alchohol; we're saving money for either a trip to the Ring of Kerry or a day in Limerick this weekend. The music and the noise of the full pub blended excellently; I think it was the first time that Ireland matched what I had thought it would be before I came. The best description I have of the performance is actually borrowed from a lecturer: the musicians play in a circle and ignore the audience and the audience talks as loud as possible and ignores the musicians. Tomorrow is another early day, so I better go to sleep. Good night and Lord's blessings to all of you!
I've learned a lot already, but not neccessarily scholarly things. I've learned that it's true, Irish boys do sing when they're drunk. Very loudly. It's entertaining for me, because mostly the boys stay upstairs by the kitchen, but it's hard for Megan and Jamie, our roommates that live on the top floor. They have to leave by 11pm, though, if they want to continue partying (campus rules). I've also learned that you can't leave a permanent marker with drunk Irish college boys, because they will decorate the kitchen walls with, um, colorful phrases. But the next morning, they usually clean up their messes. And by tomorrow night, we should have a newly painted kitchen. A few nights ago, I actually found myself alone in downtown Limerick with no idea of how to get back to the University, but thanks to a bartender and two very helpful women, I made my way back, with time to spare to get groceries. And know I've got a much better feel for how to get around Limerick. I've also learned how quickly a bag of apples and bananas will disappear and that there must be something addictive in my crackers and cookies.
Tonight, Rachel, Megan, Jamie, and I went out to the Scholar's Club, a pub on campus and listened to some traditional Irish music. It was our first night out, (even though we didn't leave campus, we were dressed up, so it counts!) and it was a lot of fun!! We each had a huge cup of hot chocolate, no alchohol; we're saving money for either a trip to the Ring of Kerry or a day in Limerick this weekend. The music and the noise of the full pub blended excellently; I think it was the first time that Ireland matched what I had thought it would be before I came. The best description I have of the performance is actually borrowed from a lecturer: the musicians play in a circle and ignore the audience and the audience talks as loud as possible and ignores the musicians. Tomorrow is another early day, so I better go to sleep. Good night and Lord's blessings to all of you!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHANNA!!!! (and blog)
First off, it is my sister's 13th birthday!!!!!! Wish I could be there. Well, I've survived orientation without much of a problem. It's been a busy couple of days, but I don't have a lot of great stories yet. I wanted to post a video blog a couple of days ago, but after a few failed attempts, I gave up and went to sleep.
I went on my first run in Ireland a few days ago. I learned a few important things. First: even if a road is not labeled as such on mapmyrun.com, be prepared to occasionally plan half of your run on an inaccessable, gated road. Also, the sidewalks are thinner to make room for bike lanes. They're a lot more bike friendly over here. I'm not exactly sure about runner's etiquette over here; for example, in the US, if a car and I reach an intersection at the same time, I consider it OK for me to quick sprint through (fellow runners, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). But what do you do over here? Mostly I let the cars go first, but I'm still getting used to opposite directions of traffic, so strange Irish driver, I apologize for Tuesday morning, that was my bad.
Orientation is pretty much only useful for students. It was entertaining at times. So far, I've been in the library twice and all the staff I've talked to has been really helpful! There's a great club here, the
International Society, that's putting together some trips around Ireland this semester for fairly decent prices, so I've got something to look forward to.
Ireland has certainly lived up to its reputation for precipitation. My clothes were soaked once, and I've since learned to carry an umbrella more often. Today was especially gloomy, very cold and foggy. Which was unfortunate, because today we went on a tour of Limerick. They dropped us off in the medieval district; it was really neat, but because it was hard to b
e outside for more than 10 minutes, I think I will have to visit again on a sunnier day to get a more accurate impression. I did see King John's Castle, though, which was awesome! My first castle--it was a momentous occasion. It's hard to describe the feeling when you stand next to something so old, thinking about everything it's gone through that happened long before you were born. We also visited Adare village, one of prettiest towns I've seen in Ireland. On the way in, we saw small houses with thatched roofs, which called up images of Hobbiton, followed by a beautiful city park. The fog was bothersome to be in, but it made some decent pictures! (not on my camera, 
but on other peoples'). Anyway, it's really late, but I'll try to post some pictures before I go to sleep.
I went on my first run in Ireland a few days ago. I learned a few important things. First: even if a road is not labeled as such on mapmyrun.com, be prepared to occasionally plan half of your run on an inaccessable, gated road. Also, the sidewalks are thinner to make room for bike lanes. They're a lot more bike friendly over here. I'm not exactly sure about runner's etiquette over here; for example, in the US, if a car and I reach an intersection at the same time, I consider it OK for me to quick sprint through (fellow runners, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). But what do you do over here? Mostly I let the cars go first, but I'm still getting used to opposite directions of traffic, so strange Irish driver, I apologize for Tuesday morning, that was my bad.
Orientation is pretty much only useful for students. It was entertaining at times. So far, I've been in the library twice and all the staff I've talked to has been really helpful! There's a great club here, the
International Society, that's putting together some trips around Ireland this semester for fairly decent prices, so I've got something to look forward to.Ireland has certainly lived up to its reputation for precipitation. My clothes were soaked once, and I've since learned to carry an umbrella more often. Today was especially gloomy, very cold and foggy. Which was unfortunate, because today we went on a tour of Limerick. They dropped us off in the medieval district; it was really neat, but because it was hard to b
e outside for more than 10 minutes, I think I will have to visit again on a sunnier day to get a more accurate impression. I did see King John's Castle, though, which was awesome! My first castle--it was a momentous occasion. It's hard to describe the feeling when you stand next to something so old, thinking about everything it's gone through that happened long before you were born. We also visited Adare village, one of prettiest towns I've seen in Ireland. On the way in, we saw small houses with thatched roofs, which called up images of Hobbiton, followed by a beautiful city park. The fog was bothersome to be in, but it made some decent pictures! (not on my camera, 
but on other peoples'). Anyway, it's really late, but I'll try to post some pictures before I go to sleep.Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Day one
Hi everyone! So this is my blog about my study abroad trip to Ireland. Even though in Limerick, it's 9 at night, it feels a lot later to me. I flew here with Rachel, my best friend, at around 7:25 pm from Newark (the Atlantic Coast looks amazing at night, btw) and arrived at Shannon at what felt like 2am to us, but was 6:45am in Ireland. The hour drive to Limerick was beautiful. I was feeling a little homesick after getting off the plane and waiting in customs (fortunately, I had no luggage mishaps), but seeing how gorgeous the countryside is made me excited. These four months should go by pretty fast.
I wish I had some great stories, but seeing as it's only my first day, I'll have to settle for the few interesting things that have happened. We got here and have spent the day gradually getting unpacked. Kilmurray is pretty nice; the village manager is so patient with all the new students, too. Rachel and I managed to get placed in the same apartment, house, whatever you want to call it. There will be 6 of us living in it, but only 4 are in it right now. The two boys are still on their way. Btw, not such a fan of co-ed housing. But, what can you do? I'm sure the guys will be great. Anyway, first thing we realized was that our landline phone was broken....or rather not present. It's getting fixed. After a few freezing hours, when it was warmer outside than in our rooms (I'm not joking), we thought our heater might be broken, but I guess they only turn it on in the morning and the evening, but leave it off in the afternoon.
Found a great department store, Dunnes Store, and the Irish equivalent of the doller store, where everything costs two euro. The bus system is great (which I'm sure you'll be glad to hear I'm finally riding the public buses, Carly) and we got our grocery shopping done fairly easily. Tonight, Rachel and I got our first taste of the Ireland weather. On our way to get supper (we wanted to buy a pizza and watch Farscape), it started lightly drizzling. By the time we were headed back, it had started to pour and we had a fairly long walk with no umbrellas so we both have some soaked clothing.
I guess that's it; not very interesting, I know, but hopefully, I'll have some better stories later on. One more day of rest and then we start orientation! Thanks for all the prayers; trust me, they're helping a lot. Have a good night!
-Vanessa
I wish I had some great stories, but seeing as it's only my first day, I'll have to settle for the few interesting things that have happened. We got here and have spent the day gradually getting unpacked. Kilmurray is pretty nice; the village manager is so patient with all the new students, too. Rachel and I managed to get placed in the same apartment, house, whatever you want to call it. There will be 6 of us living in it, but only 4 are in it right now. The two boys are still on their way. Btw, not such a fan of co-ed housing. But, what can you do? I'm sure the guys will be great. Anyway, first thing we realized was that our landline phone was broken....or rather not present. It's getting fixed. After a few freezing hours, when it was warmer outside than in our rooms (I'm not joking), we thought our heater might be broken, but I guess they only turn it on in the morning and the evening, but leave it off in the afternoon.
Found a great department store, Dunnes Store, and the Irish equivalent of the doller store, where everything costs two euro. The bus system is great (which I'm sure you'll be glad to hear I'm finally riding the public buses, Carly) and we got our grocery shopping done fairly easily. Tonight, Rachel and I got our first taste of the Ireland weather. On our way to get supper (we wanted to buy a pizza and watch Farscape), it started lightly drizzling. By the time we were headed back, it had started to pour and we had a fairly long walk with no umbrellas so we both have some soaked clothing.
I guess that's it; not very interesting, I know, but hopefully, I'll have some better stories later on. One more day of rest and then we start orientation! Thanks for all the prayers; trust me, they're helping a lot. Have a good night!
-Vanessa
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