Monday, March 25, 2013
But I'm not dead yet!
Just for all y'allz who were worried that I haven't posted in a few weeks, have not fear, I'm still alive and kicking. I'll probably have a buttload of posts in the next few days cuz I'm bad at time management. So yeah. Here's a monty python clip to make your day better:
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Egypt here I come!
I'M GOING TO EGYPT THIS SPRING! Get excited for lots of pictures of a sunburnt Emily. And sand. And old things. And fun.
I actually have been wanting to do this/planning this since last summer. When I was in Tanzania I met some awesome people that work at international schools in Cairo and they offered a place to stay for anyone who wanted to visit. I figured no better time than now since I'm already across the pond and closer. It makes the flights waaaaay cheaper. I also have all of April to do stuff so if I've got the time, why not? Most importantly, I'd rather go when there's people I know there who can be built-in tour guides. Plus, who doesn't love visiting friends?
GET EXCITED EVERYONE!!!!! and if you won't get excited, I'll definitely make up for it cuz I'M PUMPED!
I actually have been wanting to do this/planning this since last summer. When I was in Tanzania I met some awesome people that work at international schools in Cairo and they offered a place to stay for anyone who wanted to visit. I figured no better time than now since I'm already across the pond and closer. It makes the flights waaaaay cheaper. I also have all of April to do stuff so if I've got the time, why not? Most importantly, I'd rather go when there's people I know there who can be built-in tour guides. Plus, who doesn't love visiting friends?
GET EXCITED EVERYONE!!!!! and if you won't get excited, I'll definitely make up for it cuz I'M PUMPED!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Thanks for the ride! It was great craic!
Now onto the good stuff! If you missed the post before this, I'm making a list of the main differences I've finally noticed after being here for 2 months. You're lucky enough to stumble upon the happier yet no less funny post about said differences.
1. Eco Friendly
If anyone knows my family and of the MONSTROUS pile of recycling we have on a bi-weekly basis, then you won't be surprised to hear that I'm quite pleased with how much recycling is going on here. They not only have recycling things all over the city and campus, but our apartment building sends out anything we can compost! Good thing too with the amount of fruit and veggies we eat. I sound like such a nerd and totally don't care because I've been wanting to compost at home for the longest time. Unfortunately, it's quite a bit harder to compost in the U.S. and I think by the time Pitt catches that bandwagon I'll be long gone.
2. My Shower
Yes yes I know. This was on my list of things that frustrated me as well. But truth is I really like the idea of needing to switch on a water heater before you actually need the hot water. I mean, unless someone is grievously injured and needs impromptu medical attention in your place of dwelling, I don't really think you need to have a huge tank of hot water on hand aaaaall the time. And unless you're me, you probably shower at about the same time each day, in which case, it shouldn't be a problem to flick a switch half an hour before. I bet it saves butt loads of money on the electrical/gas bill. Not to mention the actual electricity and gas itself. Both fortunately and unfortunately our water will never even dream of getting this hot:
But it still can get toasty enough for a nice shower after rugby. Which, let's face it, is all I care about.
3. Pedestrian Zones
There are many streets here that are both specially blocked off for pedestrians and that were built so tiny that no car could sensibly consider driving down it. It's quite the liberating feeling strolling down the middle of the street thinking "See a car try and mow me down NOW!" It also makes for much safer shopping as you don't have to constantly be worried about crossing streets and having drivers get angry at you. It's quieter also and waaaay better for people watching.
Granted I do not creep like this when I watch people.....most of the time.
4. The Weather
Go ahead and call me crazy because I know you're going to for saying I like Ireland's weather. Hell, I call myself crazy for liking it. But really, it's perfect for me! Let's see:
It's more often cloudy than not.
Which keeps my complexion at it's unnaturally pale level rather than the uncomfortably lobster level.
Also, since it's cloudy so often, you get really really happy when the sun is shining and it's always surprising how the grey landscape can turn into something really pretty!
It's always a consistant temperature where I can wear my trademark jeans and a sweatshirt:
There's also none of this nonsense of the weather not making up it's mind:
By the way, this picture is 100% accurate.
As long as I'm decently warm and ready for rain, I'm set for the week! And the rain isn't even that bad. It's never a full out storm or so bad you can't get anywhere.
5. Not Having "American" Foods
This is another double dipper. Even though I don't have tortilla chips as often as I want and I don't think Reese's exists here, it does force me to try local stuff and whatever they're used to eating. I've been introduced to the glory that is beans and toast, white pudding and black pudding (this one's better), both of which are definitely NOT the same type of pudding Americans are used to, using butter on sandwiches instead of mayo, haggais (although technically that was Scotland) and the crowning glory that is Chipsy King.
Chipsy King is the biggest place of worship for the late night drunk in Cork, and if they expanded in the U.S. (specifically college towns) they would make mad bank. It's basically a hole in the wall place where you can get a cone of chips (fries) and they put lots of toppings on them like gravy, cheese, taco mayo, tikka mayo, sweet chili sauce , and even beef chili fries. I think there's some other things you can get like burgers or pitas but why would you go to Chipsy King and not get chips?
6. Being a Far Walking Distance from Everything
Yet again, another double dipper. While it is inconvenient to have to schedule in 40 mins walking time and it sucks if you're tired and have to walk nearly 2 miles to city centre to lug groceries nearly 2 miles back, it does counteract a Freshman 15 of sorts. I have rugby and go to the gym on a regular basis anyway, but I do waaay more walking here than I ever could dream of at Pitt let alone at home in Cranford. It's a good feeling knowing that you walk everywhere too. Especially for me where it's more eco freindly and healthier. Also it's prime music time for me and I end up just plugging in for the whole walk. It only gets awkward when the band geek in me comes out and I need to walk to the beat of the music. I must look awkward stretching or shrinking my strides every 3-4 minutes to keep in time with whatever I'm listening to.
7. Pubs!
There's so much to love about a good pub (and probably so much to hate about a bad one but we won't dwell on that thought) it's hard to know where to start. There's usually lots of tasty food that you can get for pretty cheap which is a major win in my book. There's also the fact that there's lots of (relatively) cheap alcohol to go along with that tasty food. I've noticed especially in Ireland, a lot of pubs keep local beers on tap which is cool because you can look at them and chose any that you don't recognize and it'll probably be local. Murphy's and Beamish are the locals of Cork, both of which are quite tasty if I do say so myself.
If not, you can always ask the super friendly bartender that's working! Most often it's some cute old guy who you can barely understand but will still talk to you about anything. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it's more likely to be a young girl and guy since those are to going out nights for college students here, but they're still just as helpful and nice.
On that note, pubs are quite versatile and can get pretty swinging on popular nights out. A lot of them clear away tables and chairs to make room for dancing and frolicking about like a drunken fool which the Irish gladly do on a regular basis.
8. How Friendly People Are
With very few exceptions of some people whom will remain unnamed, nearly everyone I've met lives up to the friendly Irish standard. People who visited were telling me before I left how nice and helpful the Irish are and they've truly held up their reputation. Whether it's the bar tender, a shop keeper, or some random person you stop on the street for directions, most everyone is genuinely friendly.
They don't all look like this. But that type of hat is actually very popular.
They also have incredible senses of humor and are always trying to crack jokes, even if it's not so appropriate. One of my favorite stories is of my friend Max, when she was in the supermarket. The woman in front of her had an extremely large amount of alcohol in her cart, and being helpful (and curious) Max offered to help unload it. She then half-joking said "What party is this and why wasn't I invited?" The woman responded with "oh, it's for a funeral." Max was horrified as anyone would be, but the woman laughed it off and was more amused than offended with Max's reaction.
To explain a bit, Irish wakes and funerals are quite different than American ones. In old times it used to be a huge social event for everyone in the area to gather and mourn, socialize, celebrate the person's life, and have fun. I guess certain parts (such as the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol) have continued to this day. I heard someone once say "The only difference between an Irish wedding and and Irish funeral is that there's one less person." And it's not meant in an offensive way at all. It's just they seem to celebrate someone's life a bit more while in mourning. I'm actually writing a paper on it for my folklore class and from the research I've done, I definitely want my funeral to be of the Irish sort.
9. The Internet Allowance
The last of the double dippers (I promise). Knowing that it's always looming over me ominously or that I might need to save it for a video chat later, I've become more conscious not only about how much time I spend wasting away in front of the screen, but also that I spend my time more wisely. It's actually quite the motivator to just listen to music, go to the gym, or read now that I actually have time to read for fun. It also encourages more academic pursuits, but always the procrastinator, I tend to avoid those.
It does also come in handy because you really do need time for other things, like writing essays (blech) walking to class or to the store, which I never really needed before. Knowing I can't dawdle about doing nothing on the computer gives an extra little kick of motivation to get going. I mean really the only time at Pitt I've needed to schedule in long transport times is when I'm waiting for the bus to go food shopping. Anyone familiar with the Pittsburgh bus system knows the misery of which I speak.
10. Funny Word Differences
There are so many of these and they tend to just pop up at random times. Some of them I knew before hand and was prepared for. For instance, we use jelly and jam synonymously, however, jam is jam to them and jelly is jell-o. So when someone told me a woman laughed at her when she asked if the jelly was near the peanut butter in the store, I was at least able to explain why she laughed and thought it strange.
The most common one that I first encounter was craic (pronounced crack). I've probably mentioned it before, but it means fun. So if some says "It was great craic!", they mean it's a good time or great fun. NOT high quality cocaine as I first thought.
So this:
NOT this:
Another uproarious one that just recently arose was "lift" vs "ride". Usually when someone drives us somewhere in the States, we call it a ride. Like "can you give me a ride to practice?" or "thanks for the ride home!" Funnily enough, that's what "giving a lift here" is, which we also say at home. But here, giving someone a ride means having sex with them. So if you were to ask someone "Can I get a ride home?" instead of "Can I have a lift home?" they will probably laugh right in your face and be confused. Some American girls on the rugby team found this out the hard way when they thanked their driver for the ride and everyone in the car burst out laughing. Needless to say, I've been very conscious of thanking my driver for the lift since finding out.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I LOVE these language differences and the awkwardly hilarious situations they can sometimes get you into.
There's a plethora of other things that are different than home, but I'm kind on the spot to think of them right now and that's not my best technique for remembering everything. The pros most definitely outweigh the slight downers, and if it's about taking it all in stride, then I think I've done a pretty good job. They keep life interesting to say the least.
1. Eco Friendly
If anyone knows my family and of the MONSTROUS pile of recycling we have on a bi-weekly basis, then you won't be surprised to hear that I'm quite pleased with how much recycling is going on here. They not only have recycling things all over the city and campus, but our apartment building sends out anything we can compost! Good thing too with the amount of fruit and veggies we eat. I sound like such a nerd and totally don't care because I've been wanting to compost at home for the longest time. Unfortunately, it's quite a bit harder to compost in the U.S. and I think by the time Pitt catches that bandwagon I'll be long gone.
2. My Shower
Yes yes I know. This was on my list of things that frustrated me as well. But truth is I really like the idea of needing to switch on a water heater before you actually need the hot water. I mean, unless someone is grievously injured and needs impromptu medical attention in your place of dwelling, I don't really think you need to have a huge tank of hot water on hand aaaaall the time. And unless you're me, you probably shower at about the same time each day, in which case, it shouldn't be a problem to flick a switch half an hour before. I bet it saves butt loads of money on the electrical/gas bill. Not to mention the actual electricity and gas itself. Both fortunately and unfortunately our water will never even dream of getting this hot:
3. Pedestrian Zones
There are many streets here that are both specially blocked off for pedestrians and that were built so tiny that no car could sensibly consider driving down it. It's quite the liberating feeling strolling down the middle of the street thinking "See a car try and mow me down NOW!" It also makes for much safer shopping as you don't have to constantly be worried about crossing streets and having drivers get angry at you. It's quieter also and waaaay better for people watching.
4. The Weather
Go ahead and call me crazy because I know you're going to for saying I like Ireland's weather. Hell, I call myself crazy for liking it. But really, it's perfect for me! Let's see:
It's more often cloudy than not.
Also, since it's cloudy so often, you get really really happy when the sun is shining and it's always surprising how the grey landscape can turn into something really pretty!
As long as I'm decently warm and ready for rain, I'm set for the week! And the rain isn't even that bad. It's never a full out storm or so bad you can't get anywhere.
5. Not Having "American" Foods
This is another double dipper. Even though I don't have tortilla chips as often as I want and I don't think Reese's exists here, it does force me to try local stuff and whatever they're used to eating. I've been introduced to the glory that is beans and toast, white pudding and black pudding (this one's better), both of which are definitely NOT the same type of pudding Americans are used to, using butter on sandwiches instead of mayo, haggais (although technically that was Scotland) and the crowning glory that is Chipsy King.
6. Being a Far Walking Distance from Everything
Yet again, another double dipper. While it is inconvenient to have to schedule in 40 mins walking time and it sucks if you're tired and have to walk nearly 2 miles to city centre to lug groceries nearly 2 miles back, it does counteract a Freshman 15 of sorts. I have rugby and go to the gym on a regular basis anyway, but I do waaay more walking here than I ever could dream of at Pitt let alone at home in Cranford. It's a good feeling knowing that you walk everywhere too. Especially for me where it's more eco freindly and healthier. Also it's prime music time for me and I end up just plugging in for the whole walk. It only gets awkward when the band geek in me comes out and I need to walk to the beat of the music. I must look awkward stretching or shrinking my strides every 3-4 minutes to keep in time with whatever I'm listening to.
7. Pubs!
There's so much to love about a good pub (and probably so much to hate about a bad one but we won't dwell on that thought) it's hard to know where to start. There's usually lots of tasty food that you can get for pretty cheap which is a major win in my book. There's also the fact that there's lots of (relatively) cheap alcohol to go along with that tasty food. I've noticed especially in Ireland, a lot of pubs keep local beers on tap which is cool because you can look at them and chose any that you don't recognize and it'll probably be local. Murphy's and Beamish are the locals of Cork, both of which are quite tasty if I do say so myself.
If not, you can always ask the super friendly bartender that's working! Most often it's some cute old guy who you can barely understand but will still talk to you about anything. On Tuesdays and Thursdays it's more likely to be a young girl and guy since those are to going out nights for college students here, but they're still just as helpful and nice.
On that note, pubs are quite versatile and can get pretty swinging on popular nights out. A lot of them clear away tables and chairs to make room for dancing and frolicking about like a drunken fool which the Irish gladly do on a regular basis.
8. How Friendly People Are
With very few exceptions of some people whom will remain unnamed, nearly everyone I've met lives up to the friendly Irish standard. People who visited were telling me before I left how nice and helpful the Irish are and they've truly held up their reputation. Whether it's the bar tender, a shop keeper, or some random person you stop on the street for directions, most everyone is genuinely friendly.
They also have incredible senses of humor and are always trying to crack jokes, even if it's not so appropriate. One of my favorite stories is of my friend Max, when she was in the supermarket. The woman in front of her had an extremely large amount of alcohol in her cart, and being helpful (and curious) Max offered to help unload it. She then half-joking said "What party is this and why wasn't I invited?" The woman responded with "oh, it's for a funeral." Max was horrified as anyone would be, but the woman laughed it off and was more amused than offended with Max's reaction.
To explain a bit, Irish wakes and funerals are quite different than American ones. In old times it used to be a huge social event for everyone in the area to gather and mourn, socialize, celebrate the person's life, and have fun. I guess certain parts (such as the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol) have continued to this day. I heard someone once say "The only difference between an Irish wedding and and Irish funeral is that there's one less person." And it's not meant in an offensive way at all. It's just they seem to celebrate someone's life a bit more while in mourning. I'm actually writing a paper on it for my folklore class and from the research I've done, I definitely want my funeral to be of the Irish sort.
9. The Internet Allowance
The last of the double dippers (I promise). Knowing that it's always looming over me ominously or that I might need to save it for a video chat later, I've become more conscious not only about how much time I spend wasting away in front of the screen, but also that I spend my time more wisely. It's actually quite the motivator to just listen to music, go to the gym, or read now that I actually have time to read for fun. It also encourages more academic pursuits, but always the procrastinator, I tend to avoid those.
10. Funny Word Differences
There are so many of these and they tend to just pop up at random times. Some of them I knew before hand and was prepared for. For instance, we use jelly and jam synonymously, however, jam is jam to them and jelly is jell-o. So when someone told me a woman laughed at her when she asked if the jelly was near the peanut butter in the store, I was at least able to explain why she laughed and thought it strange.
The most common one that I first encounter was craic (pronounced crack). I've probably mentioned it before, but it means fun. So if some says "It was great craic!", they mean it's a good time or great fun. NOT high quality cocaine as I first thought.
So this:
Another uproarious one that just recently arose was "lift" vs "ride". Usually when someone drives us somewhere in the States, we call it a ride. Like "can you give me a ride to practice?" or "thanks for the ride home!" Funnily enough, that's what "giving a lift here" is, which we also say at home. But here, giving someone a ride means having sex with them. So if you were to ask someone "Can I get a ride home?" instead of "Can I have a lift home?" they will probably laugh right in your face and be confused. Some American girls on the rugby team found this out the hard way when they thanked their driver for the ride and everyone in the car burst out laughing. Needless to say, I've been very conscious of thanking my driver for the lift since finding out.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I LOVE these language differences and the awkwardly hilarious situations they can sometimes get you into.
There's a plethora of other things that are different than home, but I'm kind on the spot to think of them right now and that's not my best technique for remembering everything. The pros most definitely outweigh the slight downers, and if it's about taking it all in stride, then I think I've done a pretty good job. They keep life interesting to say the least.
Yes I would like some cheese with my whine!
So today marks the 9th week since I've arrived in Ireland, and while shocking yes, it doesn't really feel like I've been here more than 2 months already. I mainly attribute that to all the similarities I've noticed between Ireland and the U.S.
That being said, after 2+ months of being here, the differences have certainly become more noticeable. I mena there's obvious ones like driving on the other side of the road and the drinking age being 18, but there are definitely ones that caught me by surprise, some that didn't, ones that I find hilarious, and those that definitely are not. I figured I'd fill you guys in on some of them if you ever wanted to picture what my day to day life is like rather than just hearing about all my fun adventures. Which I'm sure you don't mind hearing about anyway, but still.
Because I like ending on a high note, I'll start this post with the confusing and/or frustrating things here and I'll have a second post about the good and funnier differences. That's not to say some of the confusing or frustrating things aren't funny though, because some of them are riotous. You'll also find I might double dip with some things that fall under both categories. If you get confused then you'll be on the same page as me. I also promise, as much as I sound like I'm complaining, these are only small things in everyday life that I've gotten used to by now so it's not like they're actual problems anyone should be concerned with. And as many downers as there seems to be in this post, I swear there's more positive things in the next one.
1. Walking on Sidewalks
If any of you have every heard a Baumann do an impression of my grandma, this will make the quote funnier. For those who haven't, you're missing out cuz it's hilarious. My grandma has a lot of... well we'll call them "catchphrases." Basically it's her gripes and stories about life that we've all heard millions of times before. It might be about what she's eaten that day, about her dog Butter-drop-lemon-butt-scotch (i'm not sure what her dog's actual name it but she had has a "butterscotch" and other candy named canines), or her complaints about life in general.
The one that comes to mind in situations while I'm walking down the sidewalks in Cork is "Pick a lane and STAY in it!" Now, in her case she complaining about drivers on the highway, but for me I'm complaining about people walking. You'd think as in the U.S. people would tend to walk on the same side of the sidewalk as they do when they drive, in this case on the left. Now, I'm a flexible traveller of the world and can walk on whatever side of the the walkway that is customary in whatever country I may be at the time.
It's only when everyone walks on every side of the sidewalks that things get a little awkward. You end up on a different side for every person you encounter. You make really awkward eye contact with someone and you both KNOW that one of you is going to have to move. You end up bumping into people. You can't get past slow people. You try to avoid an oncoming person and accidentally move into their path instead of out of it and then the both of you just have a whole raging party of awkwardness as you dance around each other trying to figure out who goes on which side. I've decided I must look like this when walking down the street:
On the bright side, I'll be immune to the awkwardness of these situations by the time I leave.
2. Lack of Information
Now, this one could be taken as me just being a baby or the Irish having a much crueler sense of humor than I thought. I'll use the building I live in as the main example just because that's where I have the most experiences. You'd figure that when you move in somewhere, especially a university owned building, the packet of papers they give you would explain most everything. And they did explain most things.
Well, things that were important to them not necessarily us. They explained all about the fire alarms, made us do inventory and damage reports of the apartment, and other stuff that would make their life (and ours inadvertently) much easier. Here's a list of things I didn't know until after it would've been helpful to know about it:
-reception give garbage, recycling, and compost bag for free....after we bought them.
-reception gives top-ups for phones......after I walked 10 minutes to the store only to find their machine was broken.
-you can blow a fuse....after we blew out two.
-you can turn said fuses back on yourself....after the electricity to our fridge was accidentally turned off and this happened to ALL our food:
-you can adjust the radiators in the main room and hallway.....after needing to open windows because it was so hot.
-you can permanently open your room door...after we locked ourselves out multiple times.
-there are lights in the hallway outside our apartment door....after walking through dark hallways night after night.
-how to work the oven.....after we needed to use it.
-how to turn on the hot water......after taking many a cold showers
And trust me this is only a few of them. They just keep coming and coming as time goes on. It also happens in classes, at the library, on campus, in city centre, on the rugby team, literally everywhere here you almost never have as much information as would be helpful. But not all are important and in fact some are pleasant surprises. For example I just found out that they kindly donate all extra stuff in apartments to homeless shelters at the end of the year. But the pleasant surprises are far and few between. Like I said I don't know whether I'm just being whiney or the guys working at reception think it's hilarious to watch us flounder around cluelessly. Probably some combination of both.While we're on the topic of frustrating things where I live.....
3. My Shower
It has absolutely no water pressure whatsoever. I've called maintenance and they insist it's in working condition....if by working condition they mean dribble down the wall then yes! It's working perfectly! It feels like this:
when I usually like my showers fire hose status when it comes to pressure:
It's only really a problem because I have such thick hair and if I wanted to shower I would end up with my head pressed against the wall for 5 minutes just to get my hair wet. I thankfully have roommates who don't me encroaching on their personal space and have been sharing a shower.
Another thing that isn't really frustrating just slightly confusing at first, is turning on the hot water. It was uncomfortable talking cold showers, but it's not the first in my life. You need to remember to turn it on about 30-40 minutes before you want to shower which just takes some getting used to, but it's not inconvenient most of the time.
4. How EXPENSIVE things are
I finally broke an awful habit of not converting things here. I'd look at something and be like "Oh 12 euro! Awesome!" thinking it's $12 when in actuality it's closer to $15 or $16. The thing is, the prices here would be normal back home if it were dollars and not euros which means that everything is a bit pricier than usual. And for a poor college student who isn't allowed to get a job here (even though now I have the time for a job), it can be kind of frustrating shelling out the cash. Spongebob can commiserate:
But I usually pay anyway cuz what the hell, I'm in Ireland and I don't wanna miss out on anything.
5. Not Having "American" foods
Before I left my friend Brendan asked me what food I would miss most while abroad. And while it was at least a more interesting question than "Are you excited?" (duh who wouldn't be excited to study abroad for 5 months) I couldn't really answer it at the time since, well, I wasn't abroad yet.
Well now you have your answer Brendan and it's surprisingly tortilla chips.
They do have them in some stores, but the bags are often small and not worth the money. Tortilla chips were my go to snack back home and I just don't have them as often as I do back home. They're not too big on the whole Mexican food thing considering there's a single Mexican food place in Cork and in the supermarket the Mexican food takes up a pitifully small amount of space. It's weird for me coming from a place where there's a Chipotle, Qdoba, and home owned Mexican food place all within 2 blocks of each other (if you're wondering that's on Forbes Ave in Pittsburgh). I guess it has something to do with the fact that the U.S. is quite a bit closer to Mexico than Ireland is.
While tortilla chips are number one on my list, it's closely followed by the peanut butter/chocolate combination. Not just Reese's, but ANY candy that has peanut butter and chocolate. It simply doesn't exist as far as I've seen. I guess it's a by product of not having very much peanut butter at all here. These aren't the only things, I've seen maple syrup all of once, and have yet to see mac and cheese. I also miss good pizza and bagels, but really that's no different than my usual griping since Pittsburgh doesn't really have those when I'm at school either.
6. Being a Far Walking Distance From Everything
This is one of those double edged swords. Yes I'm being healthier by walking, but when it takes 40 minutes just to walk to the food store, you're a bit less inclined to go at all. Or you end up shelling out the money for the bus and as seen earlier, we all know how I love to do that. The bus is fairly expensive as it is so then I'm usually just stuck making the trek back and forth. If I'm with other people talking to them passes the time nicely, but if i'm walking back with heavy groceries this often passes through my mind:
7. Internet Allowance
This one is specific to my building as I don't know of any other university accommodation that has this. Every once in a while, I'll get the dreaded "white page" when on the internet. It has this ironically cheerful wording warning me that I have now reached my internet allowance and my future browsing will be continued at a slower rate.
Now usually, I don't use enough to actually reach this threshold. I've only encountered it maybe a dozen times since getting here. It's only a huge pain in my butt when I want to Skype with someone or watch something on Netflix. Both are huge drains on whatever allowance they give you. It doesn't work at the "slower" speed afterwards either so if you hit it right in the middle of Dexter or if you're talking to the fam it cuts out. It is kind of annoying having to be careful and plan ahead. It's quite the downer if you friend tells you the day of that the only time they can Skype is that day. Oh well! You've used up your internet so nothing you can do!
Like I said, I haven't really run into it many times. At least I feel good about myself knowing I don't waste away in front of the computer all day.
8. Outlets in the Library
...or lack thereof. Most of the work I do in the library involves me needing my computer either for looking up where books are in the library, typing an essay, or researching online. Considering the library is a good 20 minute walk from home for me, I also don't just go to the library for an hour or so, I usually hunker down and stay a minimum of 3 hours trying to get stuff done. It's also on a different WIFI system so if I have work to do online, it's faster and less of a drain on my account at home.
And while Macs are indeed wonderful computers, they don't have incredible super powers for having long battery-lives. The problem arises then that I need to charge my computer and there's really only about 2 outlets for every 25 spots. And that's being really generous.
If you're lucky enough to find an outlet, chances are it's already being used or it awkwardly on the other side of the desk so you need to be creepy and lean over the divider to plug it in totally bursting some poor person's personal space bubble.
That being said, after 2+ months of being here, the differences have certainly become more noticeable. I mena there's obvious ones like driving on the other side of the road and the drinking age being 18, but there are definitely ones that caught me by surprise, some that didn't, ones that I find hilarious, and those that definitely are not. I figured I'd fill you guys in on some of them if you ever wanted to picture what my day to day life is like rather than just hearing about all my fun adventures. Which I'm sure you don't mind hearing about anyway, but still.
Because I like ending on a high note, I'll start this post with the confusing and/or frustrating things here and I'll have a second post about the good and funnier differences. That's not to say some of the confusing or frustrating things aren't funny though, because some of them are riotous. You'll also find I might double dip with some things that fall under both categories. If you get confused then you'll be on the same page as me. I also promise, as much as I sound like I'm complaining, these are only small things in everyday life that I've gotten used to by now so it's not like they're actual problems anyone should be concerned with. And as many downers as there seems to be in this post, I swear there's more positive things in the next one.
1. Walking on Sidewalks
If any of you have every heard a Baumann do an impression of my grandma, this will make the quote funnier. For those who haven't, you're missing out cuz it's hilarious. My grandma has a lot of... well we'll call them "catchphrases." Basically it's her gripes and stories about life that we've all heard millions of times before. It might be about what she's eaten that day, about her dog Butter-drop-lemon-butt-scotch (i'm not sure what her dog's actual name it but she had has a "butterscotch" and other candy named canines), or her complaints about life in general.
The one that comes to mind in situations while I'm walking down the sidewalks in Cork is "Pick a lane and STAY in it!" Now, in her case she complaining about drivers on the highway, but for me I'm complaining about people walking. You'd think as in the U.S. people would tend to walk on the same side of the sidewalk as they do when they drive, in this case on the left. Now, I'm a flexible traveller of the world and can walk on whatever side of the the walkway that is customary in whatever country I may be at the time.
It's only when everyone walks on every side of the sidewalks that things get a little awkward. You end up on a different side for every person you encounter. You make really awkward eye contact with someone and you both KNOW that one of you is going to have to move. You end up bumping into people. You can't get past slow people. You try to avoid an oncoming person and accidentally move into their path instead of out of it and then the both of you just have a whole raging party of awkwardness as you dance around each other trying to figure out who goes on which side. I've decided I must look like this when walking down the street:
2. Lack of Information
Now, this one could be taken as me just being a baby or the Irish having a much crueler sense of humor than I thought. I'll use the building I live in as the main example just because that's where I have the most experiences. You'd figure that when you move in somewhere, especially a university owned building, the packet of papers they give you would explain most everything. And they did explain most things.
Well, things that were important to them not necessarily us. They explained all about the fire alarms, made us do inventory and damage reports of the apartment, and other stuff that would make their life (and ours inadvertently) much easier. Here's a list of things I didn't know until after it would've been helpful to know about it:
-reception give garbage, recycling, and compost bag for free....after we bought them.
-reception gives top-ups for phones......after I walked 10 minutes to the store only to find their machine was broken.
-you can blow a fuse....after we blew out two.
-you can turn said fuses back on yourself....after the electricity to our fridge was accidentally turned off and this happened to ALL our food:
-you can adjust the radiators in the main room and hallway.....after needing to open windows because it was so hot.
-you can permanently open your room door...after we locked ourselves out multiple times.
-there are lights in the hallway outside our apartment door....after walking through dark hallways night after night.
-how to work the oven.....after we needed to use it.
-how to turn on the hot water......after taking many a cold showers
3. My Shower
It has absolutely no water pressure whatsoever. I've called maintenance and they insist it's in working condition....if by working condition they mean dribble down the wall then yes! It's working perfectly! It feels like this:
Another thing that isn't really frustrating just slightly confusing at first, is turning on the hot water. It was uncomfortable talking cold showers, but it's not the first in my life. You need to remember to turn it on about 30-40 minutes before you want to shower which just takes some getting used to, but it's not inconvenient most of the time.
4. How EXPENSIVE things are
I finally broke an awful habit of not converting things here. I'd look at something and be like "Oh 12 euro! Awesome!" thinking it's $12 when in actuality it's closer to $15 or $16. The thing is, the prices here would be normal back home if it were dollars and not euros which means that everything is a bit pricier than usual. And for a poor college student who isn't allowed to get a job here (even though now I have the time for a job), it can be kind of frustrating shelling out the cash. Spongebob can commiserate:
5. Not Having "American" foods
Before I left my friend Brendan asked me what food I would miss most while abroad. And while it was at least a more interesting question than "Are you excited?" (duh who wouldn't be excited to study abroad for 5 months) I couldn't really answer it at the time since, well, I wasn't abroad yet.
Well now you have your answer Brendan and it's surprisingly tortilla chips.
While tortilla chips are number one on my list, it's closely followed by the peanut butter/chocolate combination. Not just Reese's, but ANY candy that has peanut butter and chocolate. It simply doesn't exist as far as I've seen. I guess it's a by product of not having very much peanut butter at all here. These aren't the only things, I've seen maple syrup all of once, and have yet to see mac and cheese. I also miss good pizza and bagels, but really that's no different than my usual griping since Pittsburgh doesn't really have those when I'm at school either.
6. Being a Far Walking Distance From Everything
This is one of those double edged swords. Yes I'm being healthier by walking, but when it takes 40 minutes just to walk to the food store, you're a bit less inclined to go at all. Or you end up shelling out the money for the bus and as seen earlier, we all know how I love to do that. The bus is fairly expensive as it is so then I'm usually just stuck making the trek back and forth. If I'm with other people talking to them passes the time nicely, but if i'm walking back with heavy groceries this often passes through my mind:
7. Internet Allowance
This one is specific to my building as I don't know of any other university accommodation that has this. Every once in a while, I'll get the dreaded "white page" when on the internet. It has this ironically cheerful wording warning me that I have now reached my internet allowance and my future browsing will be continued at a slower rate.
Now usually, I don't use enough to actually reach this threshold. I've only encountered it maybe a dozen times since getting here. It's only a huge pain in my butt when I want to Skype with someone or watch something on Netflix. Both are huge drains on whatever allowance they give you. It doesn't work at the "slower" speed afterwards either so if you hit it right in the middle of Dexter or if you're talking to the fam it cuts out. It is kind of annoying having to be careful and plan ahead. It's quite the downer if you friend tells you the day of that the only time they can Skype is that day. Oh well! You've used up your internet so nothing you can do!
8. Outlets in the Library
...or lack thereof. Most of the work I do in the library involves me needing my computer either for looking up where books are in the library, typing an essay, or researching online. Considering the library is a good 20 minute walk from home for me, I also don't just go to the library for an hour or so, I usually hunker down and stay a minimum of 3 hours trying to get stuff done. It's also on a different WIFI system so if I have work to do online, it's faster and less of a drain on my account at home.
And while Macs are indeed wonderful computers, they don't have incredible super powers for having long battery-lives. The problem arises then that I need to charge my computer and there's really only about 2 outlets for every 25 spots. And that's being really generous.
9. How NO ONE Looks Like a Slob
But actually, everyone looks presentable ALL the time. Very few people wear sweatpants or workout clothes to class or even camping out in the library. The only exception I can really think of is if someone is an athlete on their way to practice. And that's really it. Granted I don't really have to put that much effort into my daily low standard look of jeans and tee or sweatshirt, but it must take so much effort to look nice all the time. ALL the time. Can't we all just have pajama day everyday like in the U.S.? Go to class looking like you're still half-asleep?
Ok not quite this. But ya know! Sweatpants! Sweatshirts! Comfy clothes! No makeup! Sloppy buns hair-do cuz you're too lazy to do anything else!
So there you have it. I was really stretching for somethings as they could very well happen in the U.S. too, but I've just noticed they happen to me here a lot more often. The next one will be about all the positive and/or hilarious differences so don't go thinking I don't like it here....because I definitely do.
API's got a mascot!
The entire weekend was actually full of birthdays coincidentally, and we celebrated each and every one! Mine came first on the 28th with Kelly's following the very next day. We decided to go to Captain America's which is a restaurant in Cork city centre. Unsurprisingly, they serve food that one might find at an American restaurant right down to calling them fries instead of chips and having re-donk-ulously large portion sizes:
They also have these beauties:
I don't know whether they're snarky or lazy (my vote) but they call them towers. It's about 15-18 drinks worth in one convenient plastic tube. They're actually a pretty good bang for your buck and you can get most mixed drinks on the menu this way. It good for, ya know, if you have a lot fo people going out to celebrate a birthday for example.
Next up came JaJai's birthday on Sunday, but being on a roll with the whole birthday thing, we celebrated on Saturday instead. She was very insistant on making her wish:
So to all that had a birthday that weekend, hope you had a wonderful time...because I know I did.
Anyways, that Saturday before Jajai's birthday dinner, we had an API excursion to Guagane Barra. There are lots of ways to spell it which is terribly confusing to people who have horrific spelling abilities a.k.a. me. Whenever I asked people what Guagane Barra was, I nearly always got different answers: "It's the place where the River Lee starts!" "There's a lake!" "It's where St. Finbarr built something!" "It's a national park!" "There's a church and some ruins there!" I never knew what to tell people then when I was asked what was at Guagane Barra. I usually just mumbled an answer about the River Lee and how I was excited (excited for what I still didn't quite know) until I changed the subject.
Turns out, Guagane Barra is all of the above. There's a church:
and some ruins:
set on a lake:
a fairly big lake:
and if you walk down the road:
without Christine photo-bombing your picture (honestly I'm starting to rub off on her):
you get to a national park:
where there's hiking trails:
lots of hiking trails:
and the origin of the River Lee (it's just a bunch of little stream things so I'll do you the favor and not put a picture of all of them).
It's quite pretty and supposedly there's a 5 year waiting list to get married at the church there. Honestly, the size would deter me more than the waiting list:
That's it. That the whoooole church. Probably fit about, what, 45? maybe 50 people at the most? Yeah no, that wouldn't fly for my wedding with how big my family is.
When we were looking at the ruins they had pictures of the death of Christ, which seeing as it's a Catholic establishment, I wasn't all that surprised. I was slightly surprised at first that not everyone knew what they were depicting. Even though I'm not quite the good litte Catholic girl, I did have my Sunday morning CCD classes flying back into my head as I explained to someone what it was. Watching me explain religion must have been like watching a dog juggle, just, kinda really weird.
There also was this cool tree behind the church:
which reminded me of a banyan tree. Being the good Girl Scout that I am the first thing out of my mouth was "This would be a GREAT tree to build a shelter under!" Go figure. I'm halfway across the globe and the first thing I still do is scope out the best trees for shelters.
We had a lot of time there so we decided to actually go hiking on one of the trails. A lot fo them are flat and road like, but we decided on the extremely rocky one that was basically all uphill. Along the way we ran into this adorable creature:
She started to follow us as we passed the gates for the park and boy could we smell her before we saw her. She had a collar indicating her name was Blackie so she obviously had an owner around somewhere. I'm guessing the owner's small child bestowed the name upon her since it's such a genius idea. Just like the genius idea Erika and I had to call our three fish Goldilocks, Black Tail, and Whitey when we got them for Christmas when I was five. I bet you'll never guess what color they each were.
Anyway, she followed us the entire time while we were there hiking. She even made it all the way up to the look out point with us, which by the way, was incredible:
Doesn't seem like much in the picture, but it was really cool. It also was weird to actually be in a forest here. Most of the outdoors are large fields of grass and rocks (as you can see in part of the picture) but here was mostly forest. It was truly the first time I had been somewhere outdoorsy in Ireland that reminded me of outdoorsy places at home in the US.
Once we were done taking lots of photos:
we made the precarious trek back down. Along the way, taking some interesting photos on Max's part:
It started out as her trying to get a cool picture and ended in her planking the stream.
We still had some time before heading off to Bantry for the afternoon, so we decided to eat our picnic lunches there instead of on the bus. Our new mascot was quite taken with the smell of our sandwiches and being helpless to her cute puppy dog eyes, a number of us decided to share:
We started telling her to sit before giving her food but it didn't seem to get across to her. Then, someone suggested trying it in Irish. So, after asking Deborah how to say sit in Irish, we tried, and to our pleasant surprise it worked. I guess it did make sense since we were in the gealtacht, which is just the world for the areas of Ireland that predominantly speak Irish. It's basically western Ireland, especially near the coastal regions, and West Cork where we were.
Deborah also got cupcakes for everyone who's birthday it was that weekend. I was incredibly excited because they were from this really really really good cupcake place in town that I had gone to on my actually birthday as well. It's kind of like the Irish version of Crumbs only the cupcakes aren't gargantuan in size. I don't know how wide-spread Crumbs is, but for those who have not been introduced to the wonder that is Crumbs, they're cupcake bakeries throughout NYC that serves really cool flavors of cupcakes that are so big, they're a meal unto themselves.
When we finally had to leave, we all felt bad for leaving our beloved Blackie behind, but as we were getting into the bus, another family was rolling up to go hiking. We figured she would still have some company and could tag along with them instead.
We then were on our way to Bantry, which is a cute little port town about 30 mins away. We walked around for a bit, went into a bookshop, ate some really good veg soup, walked around some more, and then headed home. So it was basically like most of the times we've visited other small port towns. They're fun to people watch and walk around and are definitely a good time killer if you ever need one.
On the bus ride home our driver informed us he would take the scenic route and could tell us some cool things about the towns we passed. It ended up being mostly for naught though, as all but 2 or 3 of us slept the entire way back. I woke up maybe for the last half hour and he was still going on. He had some pretty cool things to say though, passing the hometown of Henry Ford's father, a town where Jeff Bridges has a house, and other stuff most people would never really know about.
It was a good trip, and one I definitely wouldn't have known about or even considered going on if it hadn't been an API event. At least now if someone asks what's at Guagane Barra, I'll be able to tell them.
They also have these beauties:
Next up came JaJai's birthday on Sunday, but being on a roll with the whole birthday thing, we celebrated on Saturday instead. She was very insistant on making her wish:
Anyways, that Saturday before Jajai's birthday dinner, we had an API excursion to Guagane Barra. There are lots of ways to spell it which is terribly confusing to people who have horrific spelling abilities a.k.a. me. Whenever I asked people what Guagane Barra was, I nearly always got different answers: "It's the place where the River Lee starts!" "There's a lake!" "It's where St. Finbarr built something!" "It's a national park!" "There's a church and some ruins there!" I never knew what to tell people then when I was asked what was at Guagane Barra. I usually just mumbled an answer about the River Lee and how I was excited (excited for what I still didn't quite know) until I changed the subject.
Turns out, Guagane Barra is all of the above. There's a church:
It's quite pretty and supposedly there's a 5 year waiting list to get married at the church there. Honestly, the size would deter me more than the waiting list:
When we were looking at the ruins they had pictures of the death of Christ, which seeing as it's a Catholic establishment, I wasn't all that surprised. I was slightly surprised at first that not everyone knew what they were depicting. Even though I'm not quite the good litte Catholic girl, I did have my Sunday morning CCD classes flying back into my head as I explained to someone what it was. Watching me explain religion must have been like watching a dog juggle, just, kinda really weird.
There also was this cool tree behind the church:
We had a lot of time there so we decided to actually go hiking on one of the trails. A lot fo them are flat and road like, but we decided on the extremely rocky one that was basically all uphill. Along the way we ran into this adorable creature:
Anyway, she followed us the entire time while we were there hiking. She even made it all the way up to the look out point with us, which by the way, was incredible:
Once we were done taking lots of photos:
We still had some time before heading off to Bantry for the afternoon, so we decided to eat our picnic lunches there instead of on the bus. Our new mascot was quite taken with the smell of our sandwiches and being helpless to her cute puppy dog eyes, a number of us decided to share:
Deborah also got cupcakes for everyone who's birthday it was that weekend. I was incredibly excited because they were from this really really really good cupcake place in town that I had gone to on my actually birthday as well. It's kind of like the Irish version of Crumbs only the cupcakes aren't gargantuan in size. I don't know how wide-spread Crumbs is, but for those who have not been introduced to the wonder that is Crumbs, they're cupcake bakeries throughout NYC that serves really cool flavors of cupcakes that are so big, they're a meal unto themselves.
When we finally had to leave, we all felt bad for leaving our beloved Blackie behind, but as we were getting into the bus, another family was rolling up to go hiking. We figured she would still have some company and could tag along with them instead.
We then were on our way to Bantry, which is a cute little port town about 30 mins away. We walked around for a bit, went into a bookshop, ate some really good veg soup, walked around some more, and then headed home. So it was basically like most of the times we've visited other small port towns. They're fun to people watch and walk around and are definitely a good time killer if you ever need one.
On the bus ride home our driver informed us he would take the scenic route and could tell us some cool things about the towns we passed. It ended up being mostly for naught though, as all but 2 or 3 of us slept the entire way back. I woke up maybe for the last half hour and he was still going on. He had some pretty cool things to say though, passing the hometown of Henry Ford's father, a town where Jeff Bridges has a house, and other stuff most people would never really know about.
It was a good trip, and one I definitely wouldn't have known about or even considered going on if it hadn't been an API event. At least now if someone asks what's at Guagane Barra, I'll be able to tell them.
Birthday Barbie
This past Thursday just so happened to be a very exciting day for me as it was mah birfday!!! This picture pretty much sums up my opinion of it:
In all seriousness, it was awesome. I think my roommates (+Christine) were more excited for it than I was as they surprised me halfway through the day with balloons, party poppers, birthday hats, and decorations galore (most of which are still up).
A group of us decided to celebrate in the true Irish fashion by doing a pub crawl that night...but not before more surprises of cake and jello shots. And lots of pictures with party hats.
I even decided to take some nice pictures:
If you can't read the sash, it oh-so-cleverly says "It's My Birthday." I was grumbling at first because everyone insisted "You HAVE to wear it ALL night!" but once it got me a free drink at one of the pubs I shut up my complaining.
As you can see, it was quite the event. You've also probably noticed that I look, uuuhh, "different" in these pictures. I made a deal with my roommate Ally:
a while ago that I don't actually remember the specifics of. All I know, is that I promised her I'd let her do my makeup at least 3 times this semester. So deciding this would be the perfect night for me to take on the role of "Barbie: Special Birthday Edition," I actually looked good for going out on my birthday. She wisely used mostly waterproof makeup so my sweaty face wouldn't look like it was melting off halfway through the night. The unfortunate part of this was not being able to get it off afterwards. I could have if I owned makeup remover, but I'm the girl who doesn't really own any makeup to be removed in the first place and who was too stupid to realize that all of her roommate have it. Only on the 3rd day did someone else realize, "Hey Emily, do you still have makeup on?" and offered me some.
Overall, it was a great birthday and I'm proud to say I remember ever moment of it! Shout out and thanks to everyone that helped do everything that made the day so awesome for me!
A group of us decided to celebrate in the true Irish fashion by doing a pub crawl that night...but not before more surprises of cake and jello shots. And lots of pictures with party hats.
Overall, it was a great birthday and I'm proud to say I remember ever moment of it! Shout out and thanks to everyone that helped do everything that made the day so awesome for me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)