Hostelz

I am going to try and review all the hostels I stay at in the next month for hostelz.com. You pretty much just have to write a short review, upload 4 pictures and if they like it they pay you $10 each!

12 hours

My flight to Paris is in just under 12 hours. I need to shower and do my hair, last minute check on my packing then hopefully try and force myself to sleep or at least chill out for a few hours, as I need to catch the airport shuttle at 3:30am! Should be in the actual city by 10am. Check back for blogs and pictures late on March 2nd. Will try and check facebook once or twice, so message me there if you need me.

Euro to Dollar

I HATE THE EXCHANGE RATE

I look at the price

I think about how much the American dollar sucks

I take 80 out at the atm and get charged 110. 

I see how much money I have

Registering with Immigration

(10am this morning) I am currently waiting at the Garda to register with immigration. Like the DOL this place is depressing and dull. Hundreds of people, sitting in rows of uncomfortable chairs. The news is on, images of the protests in Egypt and the surrounding countries flash across the screen. Unfortunately the sound is off, so my soundtrack is at least 4 crying babies, and the guy to my left who is speaking into his phone far too loudly in some foreign language. I have 50 people to go until my number is called. Fifty people who are visiting, studying or moving here, all waiting to pay upwards of 150 euro for their visa. I wonder where all these people are coming from, what brings them here. Why Ireland? Why now? many of the names being called out are accompanied by Pakistani or Tunisia national. It makes me wonder if the images I see on the tv screen are connected to the reason these people are sitting here, in their black and grey coats, in these uncomfortable chairs, waiting.

Homework

I have three 1000 word papers due this week. None of which I am prepared to write. 1000 words isn't very many, but I don't really know anything about anything which is unfortunate.
One  on mental illness due Wed
Folktale vs Fairytale due thurs evening and my
FREAKING ART HISTORY paper due thursday evening as well.


Feeling something like this;

But then it is on to Paris, which I imagine will be something like this;

Sociology

In the past few days I have met three separate irish people who began their studies in sociology, and absolutely hated it. Two switched to psychology and one dropped out of school completely. All three were incredibly surprised to hear that I absolutely love it. The Irish school system is quite a bit different than America, they choose a subject from the start, and study only that and a minor and/or an elective, none of this liberal arts stuff. I wonder how the core classes for sociology change people's perceptions. I know that my sociological methods class and theory class were both a bit dry and pretty hard, so I wonder if they start with more of the foundations and then build up. What pulled me in was the fact that you get to study pretty much anything you want. My first taste of a sociology class was Deviance, in which we studied brothels and biker gangs. Maybe if they had seen how interesting sociology could be they would have wanted to stick with it. I wonder...

It won't be long

I have been a bad blogger as of late. :( But its always like...

Study and blog vs. white wine and dancing? (going out is interchangeable with sleep the day away)

I think you know what wins most often. 

Anyways time has started to move a lot more quickly. While January was probably the longest month of my life to date, February is flying right by. In part I think becuase I have a bit more of a schedule now, and this past week was filled with classes, fitness classes and going out. I was just looking at the dates, and it seems like my time here is really going to fly by from now on;

Next couple days, HELLA HOMEWORK. 

Paris for 5 days! Feb 25-Mar 1

field trip Mar 2

SPRING BREAK Mar 3-15

parents/break Mar 16-21

Class Mar 22/23

Amsterdam Mar 24-28

Mar 29-April 22, one month of studies/paper writing/exploring ireland?

end of April, spain?

Exams May 3-15

HOME!!

SASQUATCH music festival!

Blarney

If I'm gonna be real with you, I enjoyed Blarney but unfortunately my visit was tarnished by the fact that I drank way too much and was nauseous all day. :( Anyways that is why I don't have very many pictures. I fail.

Okay so we took a half hour busride from Cork to Blarney, and thank goodness it was no longer because I would have been "that girl" who got sick on the bus. We got off and were sent out to explore for two hours. We walked the path to the castle in the misty, gray rain and remarked on how the weather made the story of a witch who lived in a cave and gifted Maccarthy the stone a lot more believable. We expected her to jump out at any second, the river and green grass and moss were absolutely beautiful in contrast to the cloudy skies. The castle itself has a number of rooms you can go into, and each one has a sign describing what it would have been back in the day, a girls bedroom or the kitchen for example. We walked up an increasingly skinnier spiral staircase to get to the top, where you didn't want to stand too near the edge for fear of being blown off by the wind. I didn't realize that you had to 1. lay down to kiss the stone, 2. lean backwards and 3. do it in about 30 seconds. There was an old irish guy funneling people through and he just kept repeating "okay, next. lay down here. hands there. okay your okay, head back. kiss the stone. up you go! okay next" It was actually rather terrifying because you have to just put your hands on these bars and lean your head back into the air and kiss the stone. A couple of my friends said they just grazed it but I gave that thing a real big smooch. With the lack of interest in my classes this quarter I need the gift of gab to write all these papers. After kissing the stone we took another skinny skinny staircase down and went off in search of lunch. Unfortunately I was too sick to eat, but everybody else said their food was absolutely delicious, and the prices were so cheap. We picked a good spot. Then it was back to the bus where I got my nap music going (A Fine Frenzy, check them out. Her voice is gorgeous and the lyrics are often really clever) pulled my hat over my head and passed out for the next 4 hours. After we got back to campus we all walked really slowly home and immediately I went to bed. exhausted.

It was quite nice to get out of Dublin, and like I said, Cork has a lot more character in my opinion. Overall the weekend was good, but like one of my friends said, "Cork demolished you. Cork: 2 Erin : 0"

Cork-Saturday

(I know this has taken me forever to write, but nothing really exciting happened)

Saturday our day began with everyone gradually waking up around noon and fumbling to get ready for the day. The eight of us then traipsed out into the cold in search of food. We wandered around the city for awhile just to get a feel for it. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy, so I didn't really see much outside of the hood of my jacket. This was one of those morning where everyone was hungover, tired and hungry and if you can imagine, kinda grumpy. We wandered by pubs and restaurants, looking at menus, everybody disagreeing on what we should eat. I want omelets! I want lasagna! I want a burger! and on and on, eventually a few of them decided on a place and Maggie said "were going separate ways" I replied, "are you breaking up with me?" and then they left to get breakfast while Ali, Jon and I found a pub in which we could get both lasagna and a burger. Over lunch we discussed macaroni and cheese for roughly 25 minutes. Jon has never had macaroni and cheese! They only sell it in a can in Ireland, and I guess they just don't really do it at all in Scandinavia. I have promised to someday make some from scratch for everyone, mmm. After lunch we made our way back to a pub and settled into a corner booth for the rugby match. This match is a big deal as it was Ireland vs. Italy in the Six Nations Championship. Seetha tried to give us a rundown of the rules while we all grabbed a Bulmer's and got settled. Bulmer's is awesome because it is basically alcoholic apple juice. We all watched the various screens (there were at least 10) and some of us, like Seetha and Jo got really involved, while others, Jon and I, stared at the screen and tried to pretend we cared by yelling when everyone else in the pub started to. Although I don't really get sports the atmosphere was pretty fun and Rugby is actually relatively entertaining to watch, especially when they like pick the guys up by their shorts and like toss them in the air a little bit.
After the first half of the game, the Bulmers and the stuffy air in the pub were getting to us so Ali and I headed on our way to do a bit of exploring. We started by finding....a thrift store! You can imagine my excitement as we thumbed through the racks. I found an awesome mens lacoste sweater which I now wear with leggings and is the epitome of comfort. After that we stumbled upon a giant indoor market! We walked past the butcher and were surprised to see literally an entire pig, just cut up into the various parts, we commented on how huge the ox tongues were and the girl who was working there picked one up and like wiggled it around. Then she picked up an ear and was like, hello? hello? We were grossed out and amused at the same time. Then it was stalls of fish and cheese and all kinds of delicious baked goods. I don't know what it is about markets but they just make me so happy, I don't even have to buy anything. I just like looking at all the local, natural food and handcrafted things. I bought some chili sauce from this ancient irishman and he was sort of talking to me, but I couldn't really hear/understand what he was saying so I just smiled and laughed and then he gave me a loaf of bread, "as a present". :) how sweet. We wandered through a few more shops and then walked in like, two giant circles to find the pub where everyone was again.
After a stop at the grocery store, we headed back to the hostel where we cooked frozen pizzas and relaxed for awhile. Jon and I went to the tv room where I discovered the most entertaining game show of all time. It is called Total Wipe Out, and basically it is an obstacle course where people fall into mud and water and it is hil-ar-ious in a slapstick sort of way. I wasn't planning to go out, but everyone talked me into it and we played drinking games in our room with some of the ESN leaders and then went to this club. Unfortunately the drinking games got the better of me and my night was pretty short. On to sunday!

Made up

Going out! This is tonights makeup. Trying some new colors, opinions? Hair clearly has not beed done yet.

Cork Part 1

Ali

Friday began bright and early as the pick up time for the Cork trip was 10am. I sleepily threw my stuff into my bag (you didn't think I'd actually pack the night before did you?) and hustled to meet Maggie and Ali. We stood on the sidewalk in the wind, all frantically calling Seetha, worried she overslept and we would all miss the bus. Luckily she came prancing down the sidewalk a few minutes later, completely unawares. We were on our way! We trekked with our suitcases across campus and out front to four giant green buses and 150 other students. We all had to check in with the ESN (Erasmus Student

Cobh

Network) team leaders wearing bright green sweatshirts, it felt like summer camp. We all piled on the bus, our spirits and expectations high. Our bus driver introduced himself as Conrad, the goodlooking one and as we were driving away said, "I think the best view of Dublin is in the rearview mirror. There is so much more to Ireland". Well put, my friend. I sat next to my friend Ali, and since we have discovered that we have pretty much the same taste in music, we shared our headphones and took turns showing one another our favorite songs of the moment. I think we're gonna trade mix cds. About two hours in we stopped at a rest area which was pretty much a giant food court where we acquired sandwiches. In the bathroom we discovered what looked like gum-ball machines but were filled with single use toothbrushes. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture. Another two hours and we arrived in the town of Cobh. Apparently there is no 'v' in Gaelic so the bh means you pronounce it like cove. Cobh is a really big port area, and so a lot of people emigrated from there throughout the years. One of the things they claim fame to is that this is the last place Titanic docked "before it docked into an iceberg", according to our bus driver. As we drove in he pointed out the harbor where Titanic would have docked and where many cruise ships come in during the summer months. We spotted an Irish Navy ship and he remarked, "as you can see there we have an irish navy boat. That is like the whole navy. By god, two boats! That IS the entire Irish navy". I don't know about good-looking, but he was amusing. We wandered around Cobh for awhile, first in the visitors center, then up to a beautiful cathedral and then a quick walk around town. Soon after we headed to Cork, what a lot of people
call the "real capital of Ireland".  I instantly like it better than Dublin. It has much more character, much more what I envisioned Ireland to be. I peered out the window as our bus drove through town, while pointing out various landmarks and pubs he described Cork as "a gritty sort of town, but that adds to the flavor. Who wants to vacation in carebear land anyway?". Right again, Conrad. We arrived at our hostel, Kinay House which is right behind a giant old church. Luckily we thought ahead and claimed a room as a group so we piled in from the rain and walked through the maze of hallways and staircases to find our room, 214. Again, I got the feeling I was at summer camp as we all clamored to claim our beds, "top or bottom?" Maggie shouted at me, I chose the top, which I would later regret. As I sat up on my bunk I felt the happiest I have since I arrived in Ireland. (aside from when I laid eyes on Caitlin's familiar face)
We decided it was the prime time for a group nap and after taking a number of photos we turned out the lights and set our alarms for an hour. Upon waking we realized it was only about an hour until the pub crawl and we had neither food nor mixers. A few of us volunteered to find a convenience store and we bought chicken tenders and soda. We huddled around the ipod's tiny speakers and did our makeup and pre-gaming. We met up with about 100 other students in the group and headed to the first pub. A rather large place where I ran into a few other girls I knew from the dorms. Bulletproof by La Roux came on and Ali and I abandoned our drinks and rushed the dance floor. However we were heartbroken to find that NOBODY was dancing. Everyone was staring at a giant screen watching a Rugby match. Literally, an entire dance floor was filled with people staring at a wall. We were not deterred however and danced to our hearts content while old drunken irishmen gave us the side eye.

Stink Eye

We danced for another song and then disheartened, went back to our seats. Luckily we soon left this pub and went on to the next one. This was a two story, swankier place. I don't think I was here for long before tragedy struck. As I was turning around to go downstairs with Ali, my foot slipped on a TINY MINIATURE STEP that had literally NO PURPOSE and twisted my ankle. I crumpled to the floor and started uncontrollably tearing up. About
20 people turned instantly with mouths wide open and a shocked noise went around the room. Kenny, one of the ESN leaders came over with ice for me to put on my ankle, asked if I thought I could stand on it. When I responded yes he told me to, "have a double shot Erin, and then keep having fun tonight and we will deal with it tomorrow" So I did. We went on to the next place where I just sat and rested and then the group finally moved on to the last pub, a place called The Old Oak. I somehow instantly lost my group and found a bunch of people from Roebuck Castle who I proceeded to dance like a fool with for the rest of the night. Not good for my ankle, but I was drunk and couldn't really tell how bad it hurt. Plus we had a darn good time! Late in the night the management brought out free bowls of chips and sausages. Those Irish know what the people want to satisfy their drunchies.
We made a pit stop at McDonald's on the way back to the hostel and proceeded to pass out. There was "breakfast" at 7am the next day which was actually just toast and tea, I tried to get up with Julia but I was limping and when I stood up I got black spots and cold sweats and figured that wasn't normal so I went back to bed. The End of Friday!

Discovered the solution

I have discovered the solution to my coffee problem. Unfortunately it is not a caffeine IV, although that would be rad. The answer is... HOBO MOCHAS! We used to make them all the time at church, 

hot cocoa powder + crappy coffee = delicious!

I apologize profusely

I'm sorry readers, I don't know how many of you there are. I have a feeling it's pretty limited to my family and a few other people, hard to tell when there are few comments. Anyways, I do promise to write about Cork eventually. Yesterday I was consumed with all day classes and then the final season of Lost. But I finished it which means my only distractions are the interwebz and oh.. schoolwork. It has been a pretty chill week. Been busyish with school work and various other tasks, signed up for gym and 12 fitness classes in the next 9 days. Hope everything is going well back in the States. xoxxo

More to come...eventually

I promise blogs tonight.
Hopefully my trip to cork in detail.
I've already written an update on my courses (thrilling I know!)
And I want to write a post highlighting the differences in behavior I've been noticing.

Ps. Anybody who has been to any of the following cities and has advice on where to go, what to see, what to eat... Let me know!!!

Stockholm
Berlin
Vienna
Prague
Budapest
Amsterdam

ADVENTURE TIME!

I wanted to blog yesterday, but nothing exciting really happened. I was just happy the whole day which was cool. This weekend, in about twenty minutes actually, I am going on my first trip. TO CORK!! It is some town/county in Ireland. woot woot.. here is the Itinerary from the international student network

"it's time for one of the main events of our society nd that is our weekend trip away to Cork with 100 other students from both Ireland and across the globe!!!

Were sure you need a 'study' break by taking you out to one of Ireland's most cultural cities and perhaps one of Europe's hidden gems renowned for having one of the most beautiful cities in the world as well as one of the best party and student nightlife in Ireland!!!

The trip will take place on Friday February 4th and coming back to UCD on Sunday evening on February 6th.

The Highlights

DAY 1
Pick up from THE MONTROSE HOTEL @ 10AM and then driving to Cobh (a small seaside village and location of the last departure of the Titanic) and spending the evening in Cork with a few drinks and meal with your friends and then off on a pub crawl around the city.

Day 2
Spend the whole day in the city, where you get the chance to explore it on your own. A Trad Festival is going on during the week if you wish to check out local Irish music or join your fellow ESN committee and watch the 6 nations rugby Ireland vs Italy down at the local! In the evening we'll head back to the hostel and then head out to one of the best clubs in Cork

Day 3
Time to head home but before we do we'll make a pitstop at the the fishing village of Kinsale for lunch and the Blarney Castle (to kiss the Blarney Stone!) and then finally making our way back to UCD and much needed rest after the weekend!! WE WILL ARRIVE BACK AT 19:00

The cost for this trip is set at €83 for ESN members and €90 for non-members and will be on sale on Refresher's Day (Wednesday 26th January) between 10am-4pm at the ASTRA HALL AT THE STUDENT CENTRE on. If you are still not a member come down and sign up for €2! Do arrive as early as possible because these events sell out very quickly!

That includes 2 nights accommodation at a central location in Cork City, breakfast for 2 mornings, return coach transfers, entry fees to the sights and tour guides!

That's a bargain compared to getting a Bus Eireann coach and the hassle of organising the trip yourself (we checked - it would cost €150 individually!) but your ESN team were able to bargain it down as much as possible to ensure that it doesn't hurt your wallet as well as offering the same benefits during your stay in Ireland.

Because of accommodation is limited on weekends in Cork, we can only take 100 on board but if the demand is high we have the option to extend to a extra 50 so make sure you confirm your place fast!!

This is one of the best trips you can do in Ireland and one you simply can't afford to miss and it will be legen......wait for it.....dary!!!"

xoxox Have a good weekend everyone!!

You've got mail

Got a care package from mi madre today! Thanks so much mom!! The slippers are sooooo adorable and comfortable, and I can't wait to smother everything I eat with the (actually spicy) spices you sent me! :) xoxox so ps. If anyone wants to mail me anything, it will find its way here. ;)

10 Things I love

My favorite blogger does a segment each week called "Ten Things I love Sunday" and I've decided to copy her. At first I kind of figured I would only write Ireland, travel related stuff in this blog, but it has become a bit more random and segmented than that. So I am just going to keep it that way. Ignore this entry if you'd like, but here are ten things I'm obsessed with right now.

These illustrations, Etsy is a never ending supply of adorable!

Glitter in general, but also the idea for these oxford inspired heels, I want to make my own pair!

This beautiful and creative way to jazz up your hair, now I just need an occasion

How long my hair is getting, I'll look like Blake Lively in no time! ;)

This look. I used to do this occasionally in Seattle, but I've noticed everyone here wears shorts with tights. I counted eight girls just coming out of one lecture.

My new lipstick. Not nearly as elaborate as any of these, but I never thought I could pull lipstick off in general. 

LOST. I can't stop. It's an addiction. 

This soda. It is so refreshing and deliscious

Tea! I have had like six cups today.

These heels. I want them so bad but they are way too expensive. 

Self Control, chyeah...

BAM. paper done. Editing tomorrow morning. That was actually a lot easier than expected, let's hope it makes sense. Would not have occurred without the knowledge of the GREATEST program for procrastinators of all time. OF ALL TIME. A lovely free program for macs called Self Control. Maggie told me about it, and I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. You set up a "blacklist" of all the sites you generally procrastinate on and then set a predetermined time that they are blocked from your computer. It can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 hours. No matter what you do you can't access them from your computer, not even by shutting the thing down! No more refreshing facebook fourteen times a minute, no more reading my tumblr dashboard for what I think is ten minutes and turns out to be an hour. I have been saved from myself!

However I still managed to procrastinate a bit, as my mom has said "we used to manage it before the internet too!" Here is a list of things I felt were more important than my paper;

• making coffee
• dancing on my bed to Grace Kelly by Mika
• peeling my nail polish off
• brushing my teeth
• changing my shirt three times
• drawing this picture of a cat
• stretching
• Three "mental breaks" to sing We Used to Vacation by The Cold War Kids 

Check out this song, it is awesome and reminds me of all my beautiful friends back home.

oops...I did it again

That awkward moment when you realize you apparently have a four page paper due in the ONLY CLASS THAT MATTERS tomorrow at 10am.

Got my red bull and my notebook. Here we go.

Credits

Looking at my classes, and my traveling schedule/general lack of motivation (Study abroad isn't real life, right?) I have been kind of stressed about my grades for this semester. I will just be traveling so much and the grades are, for most of my classes, based on just one paper and one final test. Anyways I have been a little worried about doing well in them, my gpa doesn't matter too much but I don't want it to take too hard of a hit. I looked at my DARS this morning, that is degree audit reporting system for those who don't go to UW, and it tells you based on all the graduation and degree requirements what you have and have not completed. Not counting any credits I may get this semester I need

• 41 more credits total
• 10 credits in upper division sociology courses
• leaving me with 31 elective credits

Which means, I can apply for my classes (except the sociology ones) to count as S/NS, satisfactory or non satisfactory credits. Since they only need to count as electives anyways, basically I just need to get at least a 2.0 and then I get credit, but it won't affect my gpa. 

Crisis averted!

"How Thoughtful"

I hate talking to people in the morning. Unless it is a I've slept on your couch and was expecting it sort of situation. If I am in my own element, my room, my apartment or whatever the morning is my time to sort of gear up for the day. I would almost consider myself a morning person, I can be cheery and bright and lovely at 6am, in fact it is more likely than if I tumble out of bed at noon. However, I need to have my routine. I like to be able to take my time getting ready, do my makeup, listen to whatever song I want, even if it is just Mika's Love Today on repeat for half an hour. When that routine is thrown off, I get grumpy. It doesn't matter what side of the bed I wake up on, before I've gotten ready and had breakfast/coffee/tea my mood is liable to switch at any second. I woke up today feeling alright, not really well rested as I tossed and turned most of the night, but determined to have a good day. Almost every day I have gone downstairs and gotten my breakfast to go so I don't have to make small talk with people. 8:30 am is too early for small talk, don't you agree? Anyways so today I sat down with these two girls I know, and there was this other girl I don't. I'm not sure if it was exacerbated by her accent, but every word out of her mouth dripped with pretension and the idea that she was superior to me in some way. I made some comment about how I was excited for my trip to Cork so that I would get to see a little more of Ireland, as Dublin wasn't really as foreign as I was expecting. She questioned me and I said merely that the differences just weren't as significant as I was expecting and especially being 25 minutes away from the city center and stuck on campus many days. I got a strange look and then "what club did you go to for the create on your wrist?" (thinking it was a stamp) and I said, 'oh no, its a tattoo' to which she rightfully asked what the meaning was. I said they had much more elaborate backstories but the short of it was reminders to be creative in everything you do and make the world more beautiful in any way you can, and to go with the flow, take a moment, breathe and then live life the best you can with what you have. To which she replied with a sort of hmmph sound and what came off to me as a sarcastic "how thoughtful". Then after asking what year I was in school, I said I was sad to be a third year as that means I have to go into the real world in a year, and she was like, "oh, it's not that bad, I've taught english in Hong Kong for the last two years". Like I said, nothing she said was particularly rude but the way she said it was very much a tone that said I do not take you seriously, you hippie tattooed fool.  Maybe she meant well, but at 8:30 in the morning, I don't need that nonsense.

Here is the Mika song, if you've never heard it I suggest you give it a listen. Great song to get you pumped up for the day!