As the title suggests, this blog is still about my trip to Ireland. I know this is getting really lengthy, but I really loved Ireland, so much that I already picked out housing plans for when I build my summer house there. And yes, I know that that's a bit premature, but it makes me feel better that I'm taking steps, even though there's a severe lack of financial steps involved, toward having my Irish home.
So, picking up where we left off, after we returned home from the pub on St. Patty's Day...
I ran upstairs and got a lovely hot shower. Trust me, after the soaking I had on the way to town, something that hot was amazing. Then all of us girls did our prep for the night, which included Meghan cooking our pizzas. Once I was ready, I ran downstairs to grab mine because we had decided to eat upstairs in her room. Her roommate Hugh had a ton of friends over and the kitchen looked like a bomb went off or the morning after a frat party and they were all smoking, which was super gross. I told Meghan she should just through all of the crap in Hugh's room when he wasn't looking -- then he might get a hint and clean up after himself. When I was down in the kitchen, I heard a voice with one of those Irish accents call out, "I like the look of her." I glanced up and that was my first impression of Tom. Needless to say, he got the *eyebrow.* And then I took my pizza and hard cider and went upstairs to eat.
But eventually all peace must come to an end, and we had to wash our dishes. This was after procrastinating as long as possible to avoid the smoke. Downstairs, the situation had only deteriorated. There were a crapload more people and even more of them were smoking. This time when I stepped in the kitchen, I heard "Hello, Beautiful" and without thinking, I looked up. This made him laugh because apparently I know my "name." At least I can say he had good taste. :-)
As we four girls stood surveying the room, and the other three pregamed, Tom finally made his way over to us to chat. I think we might have talked for about half an hour before he even introduced himself. And let me tell you, when I say "we," I mean "he." That boy could talk the ear off the corn in the field. And it was fast. Add in an accent, and it took a while for me to stop saying, "Huh?" after every sentence. But I have to admit, I have a soft spot for Irish accents. Now, just so you have a visual, Tom was taller than me, maybe about Matt's height, slim, with dark hair and hazel eyes. Also not exactly clean-shaven, but it worked for him. He was in his third year of studying at the university, and since they only have three years of classes as opposed to our four, he was about a year older than me.
Now this boy was just silly. He was self-described as "luscious, long, and lean" and he thought I had green eyes, which he used his "words" to describe as "prettier than the treetops." This got the *eyebrow.* Tom also adamently proclaimed that he had a "passionate heart and a poetic thought." Like I said, he was silly. And most definitely outrageous, but he made me laugh.
Eventually, all of his friends left to go to a pub somewhere, and Tom kind of didn't. He stuck around with us and I harassed him about the mess he left. He said he did nothing of the kind, that its was his "fookin'" friends. To which I told him, he "better man up and take charge o' his fookin' friends" in my own imitation of an Irish accent. At some point in here, he started ragging on how worthless the dollar is, and how Ireland is so much better because they have a stronger currency. Now there is no better way to rouse an American than to tell them that their country is worth nothing, so I told him that Ireland was a third-world country until ten years ago and that they were a "parasite on the European Union." Oops. I thought I might have crossed a line here, but he just laughed and said he liked my spunk. Go figure. That's the Irish for you.
So we caught a couple of taxis and made our way into town. I made sure I was in Meghan's taxi, and the other two girls were in the taxi with Tom. When we all met up again in town, there was no Tom to be seen. He had jumped out of his taxi a bit early and went to meet up with his friends at another pub. We four girls looked at the pub we were thinking about going to, but there was a line out the door and it was cold, so we changed our minds and went to 309 instead. This was another pub on Eyre Square. It's called 309 because Galway is three degrees and nine minutes west of the Greenwich Meridian.
And you'll never guess who we ran into once we got there. Darn, you guessed. Yup, Tom was in the house. The whole thing still makes me laugh because when he saw us, his whole face lit up. Then he asked me to take a walk with him so he could get some cash from an ATM. Like I said before, it was cold, so I told him I'd meet him when he got back. During this conversation, he took my hand and made it seem like we were together, staking his claim or whatever boys do, so that the other guys in residence would keep their hands off. Personally, I'm not seeing the draw because you have all these Irish girls dressed to the nines, and I'm there in the same thing I had worn all day -- a tank, polo, and jeans. It wasn't exactly my best-dressed moment.
Either way, Tom left and the girls and I snagged a table near the back. They drank whatever they had gotten from the bar and I watched the Irish "dance." This was a sight to behold because I'm pretty convinced that they can't dance. It was reminiscent of a midschool dance where you have the boys on one side and the girls on the other, each dancing in their own groups, and not a lot of intermingling. And I wasn't impressed with the dancing. They just don't have the rhythm you find in the United States.
And then there was Tom. He had found us at the back of the pub and pulled up a chair. We sat and talked for a while, covering cars, politics, education, why I think socialism is nutty, why he thinks capitalism is crazy, Matt of course and so forth. He asked me if Matt a) challenged my thoughts and ideas (to which I replied, "If you were mine, would you?" - No), b) if he was rich ("I don't know" -- "Good, neither am I") and c) if he had "words" ("Yes, but not so many as you"). There was another random guy at our table who remarked suddenly that Tom and I were going to "shag" that night. This comment most definitely got the *double eyebrow.* Then Tom said something more Irish and masculine than "How dare you" but it followed in the same vein. We chatted for a bit longer, and I have to give the boy brownie points because he said that I was intimidating, which is something Matt also says. He also said that I was a "darling" and asked if there were many more like me in America. Of course there aren't. :-)
Then we girls left for a club, and that was the last I saw of Tom. He was a nice boy, and very entertaining. We decided to go to Cuba, which was right next door and cost ten Euro to get in. I thought that was a bit extreme, but I guess that's how it is in Ireland. We met another boy in line named Sean, and he entertained us while we waited. Sean thought the four of us should make a "Sex in the City -- Galway" because apparently the four of us resemble the four main characters in the show. It was a pretty great experience because as much as we laughed at him and the Irish, he laughed as us and Americans. And that pretty much sums up Ireland's attitude toward Americans, at least as far as I saw. There's a whole lot of laughing going on from both sides, and it's just a jolly good time. At one point Sean said something about Italians, and when we asked him about it, he said, "Oh, no -- I love Italians. Spaghetti -- yum!"
The club was interesting enough. There was a lot of dancing going on, and the music they played was pretty much the same stuff they play at home. But since I haven't been home to listen to the radio in over two months, I didn't know some of the songs. It was a good time nonetheless. They had pop playing on the lower level of the club and an Indie band upstairs. Most of our time was spent in the pop section, but we were upstairs for about half an hour. I swear I had a sign on my forehead, "Creepy people welcome" because I met some interesting characters. The girls said it was because I looked friendly. Go figure. At one point, this guy came up to dance with us, bent down, and picked me up around my thighs. The he took me to the center of the dance floor and said, "Look out for bouncers" and we "danced" for a bit before I was like, Ok, put me down now please.
The Irish also don't stress out about broken glass at all. At the King's Head, we must have heard the bartenders break twenty glasses, and they don't pick them up. They just push the glass off to the side and deal with it later. It's such a different approach to it than in the United States where we'er like, "OH MY GOD!! There's broken glass, nobody move until I get a broom!!"
Finally, it was getting late enough that we left the club and went to a 50's diner that does not compare at all to Baby's. However, there are these huge windows and I sat facing them. The people on the outside put on shows for the people on the inside, and I almost died laughing. The other three girls were totally not amused, but it was just really cute and funny. Just before we left there, I saw some of Meghan's friends walk past, so I ran out to meet them while the others paid their bills. And then we all walked home to go to bed.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Because I have a thing against sleeping in, especially when I'm someplace new and exciting, I was awake by 9:30 the next morning. Apparently, the rest of the apartment didn't subscribe to this view, and continued to sleep until about noon. Since I had nothing to do after I had gotten dressed and ready for the day, I went downstairs. And saw the kitchen. And remembered who was there the night before. And then thought about how Meghan was really upset about how dirty the kitchen was. So I cleaned. All the beer cans and bottles got thrown away, the counters wiped down, the furniture rearranged, and the floor mopped and swept. Eventually the High Dirty Person himself, Hugh, got his arse out of bed and took out the trash and loaded the dishwasher for me. But by the time I was done, the kitchen area looked good again. This was my thank you to Meghan and her roommates for letting me crash there over the weekend.
After everything was back in order, I still had to wait a bit before Meghan woke up. I didn't know if she'd be ok with me going to town by myself, but just as I started to really consider it and go up to get my stuff, Meghan got up and we had toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam for brunch. That's another thing -- people in Europe don't have grape flavored anything. I guess it's just an American thing.
But it was starting to get late and the other girls still weren't up, so we decided to go into town and get some shopping done while they slept. We left them a note and off to town we went. Now the weather today was really fickle. It went from snow to hail to rain to sun and back again in the space of twenty minutes. We bundled ourselves up and prepared for anything, we left the apartment. Meghan took me on a bit of a tour on the way to town. We saw the catholic church there where she goes to Mass every couple of weeks. She goes to the University church on the other weeks. Then we saw the old part of the river and the new part of the river. On the old side, you can see the water and nothing man-made disturbs it. On the other side of the path is the new side of the river where you can see fence-like structures that were used when the river was fished. They don't fish there anymore, but the fences remain.
We also shopped around for an Irish Nationals patch. I'm determined to find one so I can put it in my scrapbook when I get home. It's green and white, of course, and has three shamrocks and a rugby ball on it. It's on my earlier post from St. Patty's Day. Finally, the other girls showed up and we went to lunch at the same restaurant Meghan and I had gone to on my first day in Galway. This time, I got the seafood chowder and a Sprite. The chowder was amazing. When you order it in the States, they kind of wave seafood over the pot and call it seafood chowder. In Ireland, there were actual pieces of mussels, salmon, and calamari in it. It was pretty much wonderful. There were also pieces of that amazing brown bread with the soup.
After lunch, we ran around downtown and I bought some yarn to make a scarf and a hat for next winter and also a bunch of Bailey's Creme Fraiche chocolates from Butler's for my friends and roommates in Vienna. And of course, several for me. Then it was time for me to catch the bus back to Dublin, so I said goodbye to Meghan and the girls, and prepared for another long bus ride.
This ride was a bit more exciting because I took pictures until it got too dark, and then I managed to get in a nap. I also woke up and saw snow, which was horrible. I'm totally against snow, and was very happy to see that it wasn't sticking. When we got to the bus station in Dublin, I walked around until I found my hostel, which was kind of sketchy because it wasn't in the nicest neighborhood, and then I went to bed.
Monday, March 19, 2007
When I got up today, I walked around and bought a muffin at a Spar for breakfast. Then, since I had a few hours before I had to be at the airport, I crossed the river and walked some more. I was looking for the rugby patch, and although I didn't find it, I did find some interesting things. I managed to stumble onto the pedestrian shopping district, and even though the shops weren't open, I got to see some pretty things. The whole area was very pretty, and because it was my last day in Ireland, it was sunny, if not warm. I also found a "green" mall. It looked like a giant greenhouse, and had plants growing from window boxes on the outside. Inside it had a huge clock made from glass and metal that was so cool that I took a picture of it. Also, which I thought was very entertaining, they have TK Maxx in Ireland as opposed to our TJ Maxx in the United States. This store wasn't open, but I took a picture of the sign anyway because it was funny.
Across the street from the mall was a large garden, called St Stephen's Green. It was kind of like Dublin's version of Central Park. It had ponds and birds and lots of flowers. I really enjoyed my walk in there because I got some very pretty pictures, which came out really good once I got back to Vienna and had a look at them. I was in there for about forty-five minutes and then started making my way back to the bus station because I needed to get to the airport. The bus that brought me into Ireland took such a long time that I wanted to make sure I had enough time to get back. Naturally, I arrived at the airport obscenely early, but because they have nifty little automatic check-ins, I could get my boarding pass and go through security to the mall inside. I'm starting to get good at going through security because I didn't even beep this time through. :-)
Anyway, I killed a lot of time in a bookstore and finally bought a rather hefty book that I thought would entertain me while I waited for the plane and also on the ride home. It was a pretty good story, but books here are very expensive. If I can find the rest of the series at home, I'll probably if not buy them, then borrow them from the library.
I've also learned that the Germanic countries really have their transporting of people down pat. The plane arrived on time, and I was through customs and getting on the Schnellbahn within twenty minutes. Gotta love that Austrian efficiency. I still haven't figured out the whole ticket thing with the S-Bahn, so I got in a bit of trouble and had to buy another ticket once I was on it, but the conducter was very nice and didn't give me a hard time because I made sure I spoke English to him.
And then I was finally back in my apartment in Vienna, and I've really come to appreciate just how much time it takes to travel anywhere because I spent about eight hours either in an airport or in transit just on Monday, without taking into account the bus to and from Galway or the trip to Ireland.
Some sidenotes on Ireland:
They have extremely fickle weather. Like worse than Seattle.
They have smoke-free bars, which I thought was wonderful. I wish Vienna would do that.
People from America only come from three places -- Boston, New York City, and California. The rest of the country doesn't exist.
All the strange things in the world come from Mexico.
Girls with bangs are called "birds with fringe."
Rugby is a national obsession.
People have "words" in Ireland.
The country is colder than expected because everything is run on electricity, including heat and hot water.
The showers in Ireland were designed for skinny people because they're not big at all.
The Irish are bad dancers when it comes to pop dancing.
The whole country is kind of flat compared to Austria.
Seeing baby lambs in a field is good luck.
People were obsessed with the contaminated water and the fact that Ireland beat Pakistan at cricket, which they all claim isn't played in Ireland.
They have these driving circles, kind of like they have in Jersey, and there aren't any lights or traffic signals, so Meghan calls them the Circles of Death.
The Irish have developed indestructable mascara, but nothing to take it off with. Which should tell you something about the Irish in general. Oh, how I love them.
People don't visit Ireland for the buildings or the weather, they visit for the people and the landscapes.
Bulmers Cider is amazing.
And that pretty much sums up my trip to Ireland. And now I'm off to Rome for Easter vacation!
Love,
Amanda
PS -- look for lengthy posts on Rome when I get back the week after Easter.
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