This morning one of my closest friends here, Andrew, and I had a very interesting conversation that started because of one simple question he asked me, "What will I wear?" Although a simple question, it drags up numerous issues I have with the way people or perhaps society uses fashion as a tool of separation and discrimination. It is incredible how often we as humans make daily decisions based solely on what we see. Is this human nature or socialisation? Really, what choice do we have in these situations? If you conform to the one of society's ideals in this instance fashion, you are an insider. Those who actively choose to go against the social standard of fashion are outsiders.
I first came across these terms in my ethnomusicology studies last year. Simple concepts that are adaptable to many different areas of life. We are all insiders and outsiders in different situations and at different times over the course of our lives. It could also be something that we struggle to understand about ourselves and our situations.
Our conversation helped me realise that I am currently struggling to figure out where I fit in this spectrum of insider/outsider here in Ireland. Just to give you an idea of how I match up:
Insider:
Use/understanding of Irish slang
Living currently in Ireland
Paying Irish Taxes
Cooks Irish Meals
Drinking the Irish way (note- very few will truely understand this unless you've lived here)
Barry's Tea (or just drinking tea 3 times a day min.)
Majority of interaction and friends are Irish
Physical looks (I blend in till I open my mouth)
Family heritage
Outsider:
American Born
Accent
Music Education Undergraduate
Classical wind band musician
Knowing good coffee taste
Sense of Fashion
Ideals of dating/sex
American Terminology/spelling
Catholic Religion
The list can go on for miles I'm sure, but thinking about and making it has helped me cone to terms about where I fit here in Ireland.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, December 19, 2009
About time for an update...
So, the last time I updated this thing was April I think so I'll start from there...
April:
Last month before course work was due. Pretty much this month was spent in two main ways, procrastinating work and then actually doing it. Went to Cork for the weekend of the 18 for the National Band Championships with the Boherbuoy Brass and reed band who I was researching and playing with for my thesis. It was a great weekend filled with victories, food, drinking, and a bit of craic (fun). The next day after the competition I flew to Norway (Trondheim) for a Dance Research Conference paid by the EU. It was an interesting, yet stressful trip as most of our coursework was due less than a week after we returned from Norway.
May:
All of our work was in so it was time to get down to the dirrrty of writing a 15,000 wrd thesis. Pretty much that is all I did for this month with the other highlights of having to move 2 times once to Jena's then to Paddy's, and having lovely friends from home visit the weekend my thesis was due and I was defending it. It all worked out well and managed to get a very good grade and review on my thesis.
June:
Jen Schratzmeire from home came to visit! During which we went as far as co. Mayo and a bunch of other places around Ireland. But in addition we also managed to go to Paris where we caught up with the lovely Erik J. and Andrea V. from Ithaca. It was a great time there, but then we moved onto Barcelona. Unfortunately we mostly slept there but it was still lovely. Then we ended up in London, which was amazing minus the walking home for 3 hours and getting in at 5am. After Jen left, Andy and I climbed Carrentuohill the highest mountain in Ireland, on a rainy horrible day.
July:
First weekend was spent down in West Cork, Clonakilty for another but for fun band competition. Again it was spent with loads of drink and food. The rest of July was spent trying to figure out what I was going to be doing for the following semester and what country I would be living in.
August:
Turns out I was given a few hours teaching undergraduates at the university of Limerick, so in my best interest I stayed on to teach. But that didn't start till September and I had the whole visa situation to work out in the mean time. Mostly I was a lazy ass who just cooked a lot...
September:
Went home for 1 week to secure a visa, visit family and friends, and just have a damn good time. Overall that is the pg version of what happened. Details shall not be included in this lovely blog entry. Two days after arriving back in Ireland I was into the deep end of teaching and figuring out what I was doing for the semester. Other events in September include playing a gig with Montuno the Salsa band minus Ernesto which was very sad and not as good as previous gigs and Gay pride weekend which was just a great time had by all to say the least.
October:
All that happened was teaching with the highlight of Andy's niece 21st party on Halloween. I went as an Irish American and it was hilarious again a very good night.
November:
Guess what, more teaching. But also Alicia from Ithaca came to visit which turned into a great weekend. There were the additional concerts here and there, but nothing too major. Mostly just preparing for exams and the holiday season.
December so far.....
Mostly spent correcting and giving exams or calculating grades... and preparing for the many concerts of the holiday season. As of right now the plan is to go home in June, but not sure if I will be staying for too long or coming back to Ireland. Hopefully these updates will be coming a bit more frequently.
Keep in Touch! :)
April:
Last month before course work was due. Pretty much this month was spent in two main ways, procrastinating work and then actually doing it. Went to Cork for the weekend of the 18 for the National Band Championships with the Boherbuoy Brass and reed band who I was researching and playing with for my thesis. It was a great weekend filled with victories, food, drinking, and a bit of craic (fun). The next day after the competition I flew to Norway (Trondheim) for a Dance Research Conference paid by the EU. It was an interesting, yet stressful trip as most of our coursework was due less than a week after we returned from Norway.
May:
All of our work was in so it was time to get down to the dirrrty of writing a 15,000 wrd thesis. Pretty much that is all I did for this month with the other highlights of having to move 2 times once to Jena's then to Paddy's, and having lovely friends from home visit the weekend my thesis was due and I was defending it. It all worked out well and managed to get a very good grade and review on my thesis.
June:
Jen Schratzmeire from home came to visit! During which we went as far as co. Mayo and a bunch of other places around Ireland. But in addition we also managed to go to Paris where we caught up with the lovely Erik J. and Andrea V. from Ithaca. It was a great time there, but then we moved onto Barcelona. Unfortunately we mostly slept there but it was still lovely. Then we ended up in London, which was amazing minus the walking home for 3 hours and getting in at 5am. After Jen left, Andy and I climbed Carrentuohill the highest mountain in Ireland, on a rainy horrible day.
July:
First weekend was spent down in West Cork, Clonakilty for another but for fun band competition. Again it was spent with loads of drink and food. The rest of July was spent trying to figure out what I was going to be doing for the following semester and what country I would be living in.
August:
Turns out I was given a few hours teaching undergraduates at the university of Limerick, so in my best interest I stayed on to teach. But that didn't start till September and I had the whole visa situation to work out in the mean time. Mostly I was a lazy ass who just cooked a lot...
September:
Went home for 1 week to secure a visa, visit family and friends, and just have a damn good time. Overall that is the pg version of what happened. Details shall not be included in this lovely blog entry. Two days after arriving back in Ireland I was into the deep end of teaching and figuring out what I was doing for the semester. Other events in September include playing a gig with Montuno the Salsa band minus Ernesto which was very sad and not as good as previous gigs and Gay pride weekend which was just a great time had by all to say the least.
October:
All that happened was teaching with the highlight of Andy's niece 21st party on Halloween. I went as an Irish American and it was hilarious again a very good night.
November:
Guess what, more teaching. But also Alicia from Ithaca came to visit which turned into a great weekend. There were the additional concerts here and there, but nothing too major. Mostly just preparing for exams and the holiday season.
December so far.....
Mostly spent correcting and giving exams or calculating grades... and preparing for the many concerts of the holiday season. As of right now the plan is to go home in June, but not sure if I will be staying for too long or coming back to Ireland. Hopefully these updates will be coming a bit more frequently.
Keep in Touch! :)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Week of love
The most amazing week thus far....
On Thursday the 26th of March miss Catrioana an I embarked on what would become the most amazing weekend to date.... tripping it out to Barcelona, Spain for the weekend. As so, I will start from the beginning...
Thursday night as many of you know is the typical salsa dancing night. However, we had our flight to glorious Barcelona at 6:45, YUCK! So, after arriving back to my apartment at half 2 or for the rest of you, 2:30, we decided not to risk sleeping through alarms and stay awake for the few hours before our flight. Despite the sleep deprivation we made it to the airport (Shannon airport) grand and after a huge Que we managed to make it the gate and finally our seats. We were so knackered that we fell well asleep before take off. I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the 2 hours flight, but Cat begun making conversation with the lad beside us. Luckily enough for us, he happened to be from Barcelona and guided us on our way from the airport to the bus and finally to the metro pointing us in the direction/stop of our hotel.
We checked into our 4 start hotel, which was of course amazing, but with a peculiar glass door to the bathroom. Granted the glass was that hazy looking glass, but still twas a bit odd. After, gaining a bit of energy we decided to peruse the city for a bite to eat. We found this lovely small restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel, which was amazing cheap. I decided that because we were on the coast and the Mediterranean I would eat nothing but fish for the duration of the trip. It was truly a lovely meal after which we made our way back to the hotel for a good rest before taking the city by storm that evening. After about a 3-4 hour nap we meandered a bit more to find a small bite to eat before dancing the night away. Oddly enough, we ended up in what we figured out was a lesbian bar eating ham sandwiches. Lucky and unplanned, we found out that the salsa club was just around the corner from our hotel. We arrived around 11:30 or so to find a nice sized club filled with salsa dancers. From as soon as we put our coats down we were both on the dance floor mingling with the people. Cat had the brilliant idea of putting a full face of make up on me that night, which proved to be interested later when I tried to take it off. But, perhaps that aided in gaining numerous dance partners over the course of the night. There was a few memorable dance partners including the older Cuban man who was teaching me meringue in an odd way, the knacker who was a bit inappropriate (I was a bit forceful with his hands after that), and the older Peruvian fellow we decided that I would be his lass for the evening. Although, he was a gentleman, it was a bit creepy that he was so into someone that could have been his daughter. It wasn't until 6am that the club closed and we began to find our way back. One of the lads, Max, who Cat had been dancing with over the course of the night was giving us tips for our Saturday in the city, but also trying to get us to meet him for coffee. He was nice, a great dancer, and a bit of a comic, but nothing to write home about.. (too much). So we managed to get home and to bed at about half 6 almost 7 that morning.
Saturday, we awoke by 10 and 11, but finally got out the door for some lunch around 12/1. After another amazing meal near the hotel we made our way to the Sangrada Familia, or the notable church in Barcelona. It was just simply amazing and beautiful despite the rain. It would be amazing to see it complete, but I doubt it will be in my lifetime since it started construction over 100 years ago! After we made our way to one of the small tourist stands where we found lovely gifts for everyone. But the woman tried to scam us by giving back the wrong change. When I responded to her in Spanish about the wrong change she took back the goods and gave us our money back! What a strange way of fixing a problem! We still managed to find gifts for everyone and it made for a good time trying to shop. After we found our way back to the area of the hotel for some food, again amazing fish! We returned to the hotel in order to nap before our long night. It was our plan to stay up till 6am like the previous night, pack and then make our way to our bus for our flight at 10:45. We planned to meet up with our friend Sjuan, from our salsa Thursdays in Ireland. He is originally from Barcelona, but was there on holidays/school work. We had another amazing night, which by the end of I was speaking just Spanish and having decent conversations with people. It was another great night, which by the time we made it back to our room we could barley walk. The heels nearly killed us so we had to get a taxi to the bus station. Eventually we found our way to the airport and gate back to Ireland. Despite our horrible state, the lad from the flight over made his way to sit and share the flight back with us. This time Cat was the one who drifted in and out of sleep, while I chatted with our friend. Very nice guy, who by the end succeeded in obtaining my number in order to attend salsa and help me practice my Spanish (wink, wink). Cute excuse, but I dug it. We finally made it back to Ireland, dead tired, but alive with excitement from the amazing weekend we just had.... But it continued....
Afro-Cuban Week-
Cat and I had to plan our travels around the following week of Afr0-Cuban workshops. The first day was 4 hours of dancing and 2 hours of song/percussion. I loved being able to continue dancing from the previous weekend and was bouncing with energy. After, a few of us headed to the pub for some drinks where your man, the teacher, decided to hit on me in a very inappropriate way. Needless to day, I wasn't having any of it and shot him down. The next day was a bit more of the same, but this time Oscar lead the song/percussion workshop after the shitty job by the teacher the previous day. Wednesday was a great day for a number of reasons. My course mate Alan, hadn't shown up till Wednesday and was literally thrown into the mix of hell. Being a musician rather than a dancer, I got the daggers from across the room when we started to dance that morning. When he found out we were giving a performance that afternoon on the dance, again I was given the look of death. However, we get on very well and it became a bit more craic than I'm sure he expected it to be (craic means fun for those of you not up on the Irish lingo). When I approached him about the teacher situation the previous day he was nice enough to extend his protection or rather just the "hands off" explanation that was a nice gesture. Wednesday night was a bit more craic as the band friends were playing and got to hang out with those people for the evening. Thursday was much of the same, more dancing and expanding our understanding of movement. But the highlight of the week was Thursday night salsa. Andrew from band came out after teaching and just proved to be a great night for all of us. Spent the night dancing away and trying to get into a bit of mischief which would have happened if I would have just walked up a few blocks to meet the course mate. Needless to say, it was a hilarious night of texting back and forth. Friday was a bit more chilled out with meetings and rehearsals, and a house party at a friends. Saturday was a bit crazy with playing at a GAA (Gaelic Athletics Association) game and then attending the 21st birthday of two of the girls in the band. It was a great night that continued back in my apt with Andrew and Antoinette. It was even better at about 4:30 when I made my roommate and his friend salsa dance for the first time in their drunk/hangover state. Sunday was another fairly busy day with a slow start that concluded with the band playing a mass for Palm Sunday.
Overall this was one of the best weeks here so far and would love to figure out a way to stay.... Love Ireland, love Spain, Love music, Love dancing, Love the people here, but also I love and miss you all at home! <3
On Thursday the 26th of March miss Catrioana an I embarked on what would become the most amazing weekend to date.... tripping it out to Barcelona, Spain for the weekend. As so, I will start from the beginning...
Thursday night as many of you know is the typical salsa dancing night. However, we had our flight to glorious Barcelona at 6:45, YUCK! So, after arriving back to my apartment at half 2 or for the rest of you, 2:30, we decided not to risk sleeping through alarms and stay awake for the few hours before our flight. Despite the sleep deprivation we made it to the airport (Shannon airport) grand and after a huge Que we managed to make it the gate and finally our seats. We were so knackered that we fell well asleep before take off. I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the 2 hours flight, but Cat begun making conversation with the lad beside us. Luckily enough for us, he happened to be from Barcelona and guided us on our way from the airport to the bus and finally to the metro pointing us in the direction/stop of our hotel.
We checked into our 4 start hotel, which was of course amazing, but with a peculiar glass door to the bathroom. Granted the glass was that hazy looking glass, but still twas a bit odd. After, gaining a bit of energy we decided to peruse the city for a bite to eat. We found this lovely small restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel, which was amazing cheap. I decided that because we were on the coast and the Mediterranean I would eat nothing but fish for the duration of the trip. It was truly a lovely meal after which we made our way back to the hotel for a good rest before taking the city by storm that evening. After about a 3-4 hour nap we meandered a bit more to find a small bite to eat before dancing the night away. Oddly enough, we ended up in what we figured out was a lesbian bar eating ham sandwiches. Lucky and unplanned, we found out that the salsa club was just around the corner from our hotel. We arrived around 11:30 or so to find a nice sized club filled with salsa dancers. From as soon as we put our coats down we were both on the dance floor mingling with the people. Cat had the brilliant idea of putting a full face of make up on me that night, which proved to be interested later when I tried to take it off. But, perhaps that aided in gaining numerous dance partners over the course of the night. There was a few memorable dance partners including the older Cuban man who was teaching me meringue in an odd way, the knacker who was a bit inappropriate (I was a bit forceful with his hands after that), and the older Peruvian fellow we decided that I would be his lass for the evening. Although, he was a gentleman, it was a bit creepy that he was so into someone that could have been his daughter. It wasn't until 6am that the club closed and we began to find our way back. One of the lads, Max, who Cat had been dancing with over the course of the night was giving us tips for our Saturday in the city, but also trying to get us to meet him for coffee. He was nice, a great dancer, and a bit of a comic, but nothing to write home about.. (too much). So we managed to get home and to bed at about half 6 almost 7 that morning.
Saturday, we awoke by 10 and 11, but finally got out the door for some lunch around 12/1. After another amazing meal near the hotel we made our way to the Sangrada Familia, or the notable church in Barcelona. It was just simply amazing and beautiful despite the rain. It would be amazing to see it complete, but I doubt it will be in my lifetime since it started construction over 100 years ago! After we made our way to one of the small tourist stands where we found lovely gifts for everyone. But the woman tried to scam us by giving back the wrong change. When I responded to her in Spanish about the wrong change she took back the goods and gave us our money back! What a strange way of fixing a problem! We still managed to find gifts for everyone and it made for a good time trying to shop. After we found our way back to the area of the hotel for some food, again amazing fish! We returned to the hotel in order to nap before our long night. It was our plan to stay up till 6am like the previous night, pack and then make our way to our bus for our flight at 10:45. We planned to meet up with our friend Sjuan, from our salsa Thursdays in Ireland. He is originally from Barcelona, but was there on holidays/school work. We had another amazing night, which by the end of I was speaking just Spanish and having decent conversations with people. It was another great night, which by the time we made it back to our room we could barley walk. The heels nearly killed us so we had to get a taxi to the bus station. Eventually we found our way to the airport and gate back to Ireland. Despite our horrible state, the lad from the flight over made his way to sit and share the flight back with us. This time Cat was the one who drifted in and out of sleep, while I chatted with our friend. Very nice guy, who by the end succeeded in obtaining my number in order to attend salsa and help me practice my Spanish (wink, wink). Cute excuse, but I dug it. We finally made it back to Ireland, dead tired, but alive with excitement from the amazing weekend we just had.... But it continued....
Afro-Cuban Week-
Cat and I had to plan our travels around the following week of Afr0-Cuban workshops. The first day was 4 hours of dancing and 2 hours of song/percussion. I loved being able to continue dancing from the previous weekend and was bouncing with energy. After, a few of us headed to the pub for some drinks where your man, the teacher, decided to hit on me in a very inappropriate way. Needless to day, I wasn't having any of it and shot him down. The next day was a bit more of the same, but this time Oscar lead the song/percussion workshop after the shitty job by the teacher the previous day. Wednesday was a great day for a number of reasons. My course mate Alan, hadn't shown up till Wednesday and was literally thrown into the mix of hell. Being a musician rather than a dancer, I got the daggers from across the room when we started to dance that morning. When he found out we were giving a performance that afternoon on the dance, again I was given the look of death. However, we get on very well and it became a bit more craic than I'm sure he expected it to be (craic means fun for those of you not up on the Irish lingo). When I approached him about the teacher situation the previous day he was nice enough to extend his protection or rather just the "hands off" explanation that was a nice gesture. Wednesday night was a bit more craic as the band friends were playing and got to hang out with those people for the evening. Thursday was much of the same, more dancing and expanding our understanding of movement. But the highlight of the week was Thursday night salsa. Andrew from band came out after teaching and just proved to be a great night for all of us. Spent the night dancing away and trying to get into a bit of mischief which would have happened if I would have just walked up a few blocks to meet the course mate. Needless to say, it was a hilarious night of texting back and forth. Friday was a bit more chilled out with meetings and rehearsals, and a house party at a friends. Saturday was a bit crazy with playing at a GAA (Gaelic Athletics Association) game and then attending the 21st birthday of two of the girls in the band. It was a great night that continued back in my apt with Andrew and Antoinette. It was even better at about 4:30 when I made my roommate and his friend salsa dance for the first time in their drunk/hangover state. Sunday was another fairly busy day with a slow start that concluded with the band playing a mass for Palm Sunday.
Overall this was one of the best weeks here so far and would love to figure out a way to stay.... Love Ireland, love Spain, Love music, Love dancing, Love the people here, but also I love and miss you all at home! <3
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Salsa class in review
Salsa:
1. A spicy sauce of chopped, usually uncooked vegetables or fruit, especially tomatoes, onions, and chili peppers, used as a condiment.
2. Music A popular form of Latin-American dance music, characterized by Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Cuban big-band dance melodies, and elements of jazz and rock.
The first definition is a food group I wish had more presence in my life. The second is what I've been doing with my Thursday nights since coming to Ireland. You may think it is odd to have found Salsa dancing in Ireland. However, this has been a great past time between exercise, dance experience, and pure hilarity of watching Irish people trying to dance.
The basics class began at this club/bar called Daffy's in the city of Limerick. The first night Ernest, Nora, and I made our way down the dark windy streets of Limerick to find this pub next to a dim sum place that smelled amazing. We inquired about the dance class and was pointed at a pretty ominous door that lead outside and down some stairs. We arrived in a much nicer part of the pub to find a group of people learning the basics. It was a fun enough and informative class so we decided to stay on for the duration of the course.
As each week passed I realized how difficult it was to be a woman at this class. The few men in attendance couldn't dance, except for two or so. But, the ironic part is that the women who were taking on the lead/male part couldn't dance either! On the third night we did a very interesting exercise to get used to moving particular parts of body, mainly the hips and knees. It was hilarious seeing people try to move their hips, I'm sorry but the Irish can't dance except step.
Memorable moments of the class:
Sketchy guy who breaths heavily and stares while dancing
Stiff man, the man couldn't bend his knees or keep a beat
Dominque, gay?, black man with moves
Sweaty guy, big guy think pretty boy, Cornell gay
Lady man, couldn't dance and was perhaps a lesbian
Popped collar guy, enough said
Complaining to Brian that we need more able bodied men to dance
Having Oscar show me what real Latin dancing can be like
First experience of dancing with an older man who flung me around the dance floor
Indian guy who questions if I was Irish because I can dance well
Finally moving to nice dance place after Daffy's was closed for "renovations"
Ernest's and Oscars loving stares while playing (music)
The many people who can't keep a beat or move their body
Oscar's compositions at the end of the night
Brian is tall
Kristina is not tall
The music is amazing
I love dancing.....
... the end for now... :)
The first definition is a food group I wish had more presence in my life. The second is what I've been doing with my Thursday nights since coming to Ireland. You may think it is odd to have found Salsa dancing in Ireland. However, this has been a great past time between exercise, dance experience, and pure hilarity of watching Irish people trying to dance.
The basics class began at this club/bar called Daffy's in the city of Limerick. The first night Ernest, Nora, and I made our way down the dark windy streets of Limerick to find this pub next to a dim sum place that smelled amazing. We inquired about the dance class and was pointed at a pretty ominous door that lead outside and down some stairs. We arrived in a much nicer part of the pub to find a group of people learning the basics. It was a fun enough and informative class so we decided to stay on for the duration of the course.
As each week passed I realized how difficult it was to be a woman at this class. The few men in attendance couldn't dance, except for two or so. But, the ironic part is that the women who were taking on the lead/male part couldn't dance either! On the third night we did a very interesting exercise to get used to moving particular parts of body, mainly the hips and knees. It was hilarious seeing people try to move their hips, I'm sorry but the Irish can't dance except step.
Memorable moments of the class:
Sketchy guy who breaths heavily and stares while dancing
Stiff man, the man couldn't bend his knees or keep a beat
Dominque, gay?, black man with moves
Sweaty guy, big guy think pretty boy, Cornell gay
Lady man, couldn't dance and was perhaps a lesbian
Popped collar guy, enough said
Complaining to Brian that we need more able bodied men to dance
Having Oscar show me what real Latin dancing can be like
First experience of dancing with an older man who flung me around the dance floor
Indian guy who questions if I was Irish because I can dance well
Finally moving to nice dance place after Daffy's was closed for "renovations"
Ernest's and Oscars loving stares while playing (music)
The many people who can't keep a beat or move their body
Oscar's compositions at the end of the night
Brian is tall
Kristina is not tall
The music is amazing
I love dancing.....
... the end for now... :)
Monday, October 6, 2008
London Visit 1
This visit to London was just what I needed for a mental health break. It helped me realize that regardless of distance and time the people that truly matter will always be there and never change. Sometimes that is a good thing, but in my case it just made for one interesting and hilarious weekend.
Friday: The day started by packing for the weekend at the last minute like always. Met up with Ernest to print out the last documents and head to buy bus tickets to the airport and exchange money. Got to town with a bit of a hunger so we tried out a new fish and chips place, Enzo's Cafe. It wasn't too bad, but we missed our planned bus by about 10 minutes. However, it all worked out since there was another in about an hour which gave us more than enough time to get through check in and security at the airport. The flight was just over an hour, but the best part was the landing. It was a bit of an interesting landing feeling as though we were going to fast and that the wheels weren't on the ground equally. But, the "charge" trumpet was hilarious and the best part. Our easybus was easy to find once we left the terminal. Yes, I know horrible pun. Omar and Mikey met us at the Baker Tube station. We went back to their flat to drop our things and head to a pub for some food and more Ithacans. Laura and Maeve joined us at this lovely little pub around the corner from the boys flat. I had a Guinness that was of course a pale comparison to that in Ireland, but still better than what is in the States. After, we headed to see the typical London sights at night beginning with Big Ben and Parliament. We walked around for a while seeing a bunch of different sights and then headed back to the flat for the night. I love those boys, the night was filled with hilarious situations and pile ons.
Saturday: Mike, Omar, Ernest, and I headed to met Laura to head to the market. We got there to find a huge market ranging from oysters to Indian lamb spring rolls. Laura and I walked around for a bit while the boys did their own thing. After, the group walked around for a while to check out the sights (Big Ben, Parliament, London Center, Buckingham Palace, etc) in the daylight before heading back to the respective flats for some work. We made plans to meet up with the rest of the Ithaca people in Laura's apt at 8, but that happened promptly at 8:45. We headed to the Thai restaurant to find that it was fairly busy and unable to seat us for an hour. In our fit of hunger we decided to find somewhere else and were upon this lovely little restaurant beneath a Chicken Village (Think KFC, goes patriotic and horrible). The sign greeted or "Wellcome" us as we headed to the basement beneath the fast food establishment. That should have been our first clue for the night we were about to experience. After ordering and receiving our drinks 45 min after our arrival the group was getting a bit anxious since it was after 10 and none of us had eaten. During this long wait there was little if any noise from the kitchen, but we did notice our waiter/cook running in and out of the side exit with bags from a local supermarket (clue no. 2). Omar was the brave one to ask our waiter was the deal was with our food, but was assured that it would be only 10-15 mins. About 20 min later we received our long awaited food and devoured it within 15 mins. Again, Omar asked for the bill for the group, but the wait was (yet again) prolonged by our waiters math skills and need to answer several phone calls. While we were figuring out our bill the power blew out in the kitchen and left the room in silence. The waiter/cook returned to figure out what was going on flashlight in hand. The topper of the experience was shortly after we gave in our payment and waiting for change. All of a sudden this very large fellow, dressed in black, with long dreadlocks, waltzed in paid little attention to us, signaled "hello" to the waiter before proceeding into the dark kitchen. Laura at this point was beyond angry and we headed out of the restaurant fairly quick. Allie Snee, flute player from Ithaca, invited the music majors over for a party so that her roommates could experience the highlight that is a musician party. However, we arrived about 4 hours late and pretty much had a fairly quite night retelling the experience that was our meal. By about 4 am Laura and I made it back to her apartment and quickly went to sleep after some well needed girl talk.
Sunday: Woke up to a rainy day in la casa de Rara, Erin, Meghan and Seth (I don't know the others). Laura was up hours before me, but before we got going for the day there was the mandatory girl talk while still in bed of course. We left to meet up with Omar and Ernest at a little cafe by the London center so that the silly undergrads could practice, just kidding. The food was very good, and the cap
p wasn't terrible just not the right texture of foam. Ernest and I went to the Natural History Museum for about an hour or so since it was free. We walked around the Dinosaur exhibit which was mobbed by people mainly children. We then headed to the planet section and energy/waste management section. It wasn't too far so we met up with the Londoners at the center and headed back to the apartment for the skype date with Alicia and Corinne, which was joined by Chris. It was nice to see all of them, and on top of that dippy made soup! However, Omar, Laura, Ernest, and I ran off to an Organ recital at Westminster Abbey before it was done. It was a concert by the assistant or associate organist of the Abbey playing the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams in this concert it was mostly from English Folk Song Suite, yey band music! It was the perfect length concert 45 mins. The 4 of us left but had a bit of a mishap getting lost at the tube station, but eventually found and figured it out. Back in the apartment we had the brilliant idea of making some bananas foster and bananas foster pita. Mainly we just wanted to use rum and bananas. After our lovely dessert the entertainment of the night began with Andrew's rendition of the "pizza song" and followed by the group production of PPP in London. As seen below this post. Omar and I then decided to hate our bodies and get some McD's from downstairs. By about midnight most of us headed to bed. Then Mike and Andrew decided to jump in Omar's bed again to make life interesting. Got to bed around 12 or 1 only to wake in a few hours.Monday: Woke up at 5am or rather just before to get up and head to the tube. We made it to the Baker street station fairly easily and found an attendant to ask proper directions to Gloucester Street (which he promptly made fun of my pronunciation). It worked out that we arrived 15 minutes before the Easybus, waiting along with the other people. The bus ride was fairly quick since I slept a bit, but also due to a lack of traffic. The airport wasn't terribly busy making check in and security fairly easy. However, as we were walking to the gate I noticed it said "final call for boarding to Shannon Airport" even though it was 30 min before our flight was due out. We made it fine and again a short flight broken up by naps. We left a fairly sunny London to arrive in rainy Shannon, but it felt nice to be back in Ireland. The bus to Limerick left about the same time as we got off the plane, but there was another after about a half hour. We made it back to the city center and hopped right on the bus back to school. It was interesting though because when we reached campus there were Garda (police) and Army people everywhere. I ended up back in bed by noon and slept for about 4 hours, which meant I had to cancel my flute lesson.
All in all, London was amazing and I miss everyone already. However a picture or video for that matter is worth a thousand words.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Learning and Love
Short list of things I've come to learn and love in Ireland:
Love:
How active people are here, walking around everywhere
dogs walking around freely and this is normal
Sunday farmer's market with crepes
My friends and family home
Skype
Irish butter and milk
technology and actually knowing how to use it
The international office and all of the people who work there
Irish accents
Tea
Learn:
I have to be a different type of student in graduate school
I should learn how to cook smaller meals
Plan accordingly since all things here close earlier
Guinness sucks outside of Ireland
Being an international student has ups and downs
the Irish language is awesome, but makes no sense (yet)
The weather is like Ithaca
Coffee/espresso sucks here, damn working at the coffee shop
to be continued....
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Weeks 2-4-"Welcome to Ethnomusicology"
Before classes started the wonderful international office offer a trip for us to see Bunratty Castle which is where this picture was taken. We were also suppose to go on a walking tour of the book Angela's ashes that was set in Limerick, but that didn't happen. It was a great trip even though it was a bit short and I know a few of us look forward to going back.
Class week 1:
As a graduate student I have the most amazing timetable ever. I have class Tuesday 2-5(really only 4), Wednesday 10-12, and Thursday 10-12 or 1 depending on what we want to do. So that being said I have 4 day weekends every week. However, typical of me I have tried to add a variety of other things to complicate my life such as Irish language classes, salsa lessons, and tribal drumming classes. The Monday of the first week of class was spent figuring out banks, loans, and all of that other fun financial stuff. Tuesday was the first day of the first class Methods in Ethnomusicology which turned into a short introduction chat about the course and a few other things before we dismissed. Wednesday we met up around 10 for a quick chat before heading to the library to learn about video equipment and imovie.
Thursday was Processes of change in Irish traditional music where we ethno people joined the Irish trad MA students. It was a bit different having more than 3 people in a class. Niall is the lecturer for the class and set up for the ethno people to give a concert at the beginning of semester two and receive lessons as part of the grade for the class. The rest of the week is a bit of a blur but I'm sure that it involved a bit of Guinness, a drunk roommate adventure, and more exploring of the city. The weekend involved more randomness around limerick and crepes at a Farmer's market that Ingrid took us to. To say the least it was amazing and will become the new Sunday traditionClass week 2:
Classes were about the same as the previous week with the exception that on Wednesday I was left alone with Colin. It was fine we chatted about a bunch of different topics including the assignment which I realized that I had used the wrong source. The Irish trad class was particularly interesting when the students had to present and discuss an article by an ethnomusicologist. Needless to say they hated in and insisted that it was a load of crap and a pain in the ass to read. I've come to terms with this aspect of reading ethnomusicological studies, but it is interesting see others react and (try to) interpret it. Salsa class was again a grand ol' time with me being the assistant to the dance teacher. It made for an amusing time to say the least. The weekend was spent with more laziness and crepes which were amazing. The past few weeks I went to church with Ernest to this one service that was interesting in several ways, but decided not to return. Besides the fact that I'm a snobby musician and they made me want to cry with their intonation.
Class week 3:
Monday was the typical lazy day starting with a lovely breakfast of potatoes, tea, toast, and a yummy omelet. I've been trying to get myself into the habit of eating breakfast, which has come easier after the Ghana trip. Pretty much the day was spent doing work for Tuesday. Tuesday morning I got up to finish more work, but also to go observe the Congolese choir in one of Ernest's classes. I quickly was turned into a participant, which was fun but interesting since I was asked to sing soprano. After I went back to the library to do more work for Wednesday. Class was interesting since it was the other Alan who had only previously attending one class in addition to me. We chatted about a bunch of things before getting to the assignment. Later that night was our first Irish class which was awesome! I'm really going to like the language and if you want to check out something hilarious involving Irish language watch these two videos on you tube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4dpLYrFtY4 part one
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnwH3KW7l_8 Part two
Wednesdays class was horrible, I was the only one that was prepared and was put on the spot to discuss and introduce the topics. It was a bit better because there were 4 people in the class, but after spending the morning preparing for the class and being woken up early by a drunk roommate I was in less than a good mood. I went home for a nap before going to check out the tribal drumming class on campus. I arrive at 7 to see a huge group of people and was surprised to see the diversity in the room. So far Ireland as been pretty pale, which is fine I just miss Africa. I spent 4 hours drumming that night and caught a natural high, like I've never felt before. It made me miss Africa and home even more, but gave me some new insights into many different aspects of my life. Wednesday was an amazing day which concluded with some hilarious conversations. Thursday was fine with the Irish trad class being interesting, but a bit tiring. That night was Salsa classes which was amazing and a great time. It makes me realize how much I miss dancing and just general movement in that way. Friday was spent taking care of bank errands, I have finally received some of the money that was supposed to be here in August. They are sending the rest next week thankfully. It is amazing that loan companies can make so many clerical mistakes on one simple loan. Saturday has been a day of catch up relax which has been great....
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