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... :)

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 capp 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.

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....

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 tradition

Class 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....

Week 1- "Where are my loan Checks?"

So the first week had a very nice schedule: International Student orientation on Monday and Graduate student orientation/registration on Friday.

Monday: International student orientation was interesting with several of the directions of the program making some hilarious comments about Irish or in Irish. Meet some very nice people, some how the majority of them were musicians, but some nice Canadian med students as well (yes, they do say "eee" all the time and I had to control my laughter each time). They provided a very nice little lunch/dinner for us at one of the pubs on campus which had some pretty good food. By the time that let out most of the stores were closed so no food or sheets for another night. I love being an International student. Ha

Tuesday-Thursday is a bit of a blur between shopping for a bunch of random household type things. I got to meet another one of my housemates on Thursday evening when he came home drunk with friends and woke up half the side of the complex. I laughed at this situation, however Rachel was a bit less enthused by the situation. I think it all came down to her missing chocolate bars. The big adventures for these few days was getting a hold of loan checks, luckily my Plus loan came through on time, however the stafford loan had not. Meaning I was able to pay for the tuition for the semester, but not housing. Luckily, people in the International office are amazing flexed their muscles and just relayed that my money would come soon enough to my housing people.

Friday: Post-graduate orientation which was a relief since all the other students around were first years. It was nice to see people that didn't look like they were in my high school band room last year. The morning was comprised of a tour in which the other student that showed up in my program (yes, there were only two of us) opted not to go on the tour since he just graduated with his BA here last year. So I had a private tour of the campus which is truly beautiful. Despite the dreary weather it was a nice time trying to understand my tour guide, who was a second year boy from Cork. You will hear a lot about people from Cork and their accents around here, mainly because Aiden, our lovely loud roommate is a Cork boy. After the tour I was provided with food by the Irish World Academy always a big plus for a school in my book. We had a short introduction of professors before we had a sit down between programs. Since I was my program, I chatted with Colin the new course director from UCLA. It seems as though we would get a long throughout the course of my study. He is a very easy going guy with a keen ideas and perceptions. I did get my timetable (schedule) orally which seemed amazing, four day weekends every week (I forgot the most important part when and where for the first class)!

The weekend was a blur most likely spent finding more places to buy the things that I needed or wondering around trying to figure out Limerick. I did take it a bit easy since I had class all of 3 days away.

So you're going to Ireland

It seems as though it were only yesterday that I was sitting at the Ithaca college football field waiting to graduate (part two). As they tend to do, summer flew by between trips to Africa (which I hope back date/add to here), working at the coffee shop, and playing whatever instrument for a number of hours each week. My last visit to Ithaca was a particularly memorable one between old friends, new friends, African friend, and mentors. I couldn't have left Ithaca with better memories if I tried, but I did leave with little time to pack as I was leaving the next day. The last night in the States was just as memorable with those people I call my home, friends and family alike. In this blog I hope to keep a memory journal for me and create a humorous read for friend and family interested in reading.

So the beginning of my journey to Ireland-

The morning of my flight I walked into my house around 10am after the last night of galavanting with those crazy people I love so much from home. As I was packing up I realized that I had some how managed to break my cell phone charger in the course of the past days and had to find another if I were to have any of the number to people back in the States. I had to catch the bus down to the city and just about made it after running around town to grab the charger. (Although the ironic part is that it was the wrong charger for my phone anyway.) My father and I got down to the city with ample time to get to airport from the port. However, this is where the fun begins...
I brought my passport and paperwork up to the delta employee to get my boarding pass and tickets only to be informed that since I didn't book a round trip ticket I would need visa. The first employee offered me to buy a return ticket which I hesitantly said yes, but then his supervisor came over and made the situation worse. She informed that since I told them I would be there for 9 months (I said academic school year) that they were not allowed by law to let me on the plane. Who would have thought that I would have more trouble trying to get out of the country then into a new one. In a panic I called Jon H. to get Ernest's number in Ireland. When I called him he assured me that he had no problems with his tickets or entry to the country. Then armed with the number I called the Irish consulate, which promptly returned my called and assured me that the airline employees were a bunch of idiots. The supervisor that I fought with earlier continued to be her passive aggressive (insert typical descriptive of a female dog here), insisting that I needed a visa when I was talking to the consulate who informed me they don't even write visas for US citizens!!!!!! After the hour and a half of arguing I finally won them over and got my boarding pass.

I had a teary goodbye to my father, but the airport employees in the carry on baggage department made me feel better. I sat in the airport and made a few calls and a drink before getting on the flight. It was a typical 7 hour flight that was freezing since it was at night and I was by the window. I managed to sleep a little, but mostly found myself freezing. I awoke in time to get the sunrise over the Atlantic and to catch my first aerial glimpse of Ireland. Yes, I did fly into Shannon/Shannon airport, which some have deemed a ironic situation. I was met by a taxi driver that brought all of us Americans to our housing at the University. It turned out that the girls were from the same town Ernest's dad works. I arrived a bit early to my apartment, but was allowed to move in despite my timing. I unpacked what little I had and took a well needed nap. During my lovely nap apparently Ernest had wondered around the student village looking for me, but we ended up finding each other randomly on a road off campus. We walked around the campus since I had no idea where to go the next morning for the International student orientation. In my apartment we met my the first of my roommates a girl named Rachel doing her MS in Speech therapy. We left in order to do a bit more walking but found ourselves tired and parted ways for a well needed and deserved sleep.

(The picture above is of my student village)