Ok, so doing away with the day count thing, it's hard to keep track of when I don't post every day and I always have to look up the number and...anyway, it's just a hassle.
So, life is still kinda uneventful. As of right now I only have 8 hours of class a week...this is CRAZY and so great. Today I had one class (Archaeology) from 2-3 and that was it. I may be adding three more hours with Irish, but I'm waiting to see what they've schedule because if class is on Friday...well we'll just have to wait and see won't we? However, this would only bring it up to 11 hours a week, which is a lot less then the 18 or so I've had every other semester at Bowdoin. I do have one evening class, marine environments, but it's cool, although the walk does seem a bit longer in the dark and the rain...oh Ireland.
Since being here a week, I've made some interesting observations:
Bump-its are surprisingly prevalent here. As are Adidas track suits in bright colors, often with matching shoes. These two things are often found together, I've seen many the well coordinated track suited women with a bump-it. These girls also seem to be much oranger then is natural.
The women who are not wearing track suits, or perhaps the same women, just at a different time of day, wear a short skirt... and a looong jacket. Very much like that CAKE song. And everyone wears boots, some type of boot, a lot of Uggs. I don't really get it, it's cold and rainy here, short skirts, fake tans...hmmm. I did see a very interesting jacket today, it was like a pea coat, but it flared out kinda skirty like at the bottom, she actually looked like she was one of those people from the Grinch movie with Jim Carey.
Men wear sweat pants, women don't really...not fair.
I think they mostly walk on the left, I've been trying to pay attention and have found that when someone goes to pass me on the right, they tend to look more American, i.e. wearing North Face or having backpacks. Now, our off campus study (ocs) director said that Europeans don't really use double strap backpacks, which I think is mostly true, but not exclusively. Back to the walking down the street thing though, backpacks and clothing are good indicators, and most people I peg as Irish move to the left to pass...but sometimes I think people will just choose whichever side is closer.
Umbrellas are everywhere. It kinda just drizzles all the time, kinda like in Portland. But at home people just wear raincoats. This is not the case here, everyone has an umbrella and it becomes difficult to walk down the street, I've seen many instances of possible injury due to umbrella stabbing...I'm telling you, it's a dangerous world out there when too many umbrellas get involved...I prefer my good old REI raincoat any day.
Our ocs director told us that we probably didn't want to bring too many clothes because we would want to buy some wherever we're going so as to fit in. If I were to follow his advice I need:
bronzer (a lot of it)
short skirts
long jackets
bump-its (of various size...which can actually be find in the 2 euro store at a reasonable price...2 euro actually)
boots (but definitely not the hiking boots that I brought)
tights (mostly black, but I've seen a lot of different kinds)
Needless to say, I don't think I'm going to really be fitting in any time soon. And these are also just generalizations, everyone does not fit into these categories, but a crazy amount do.
In terms of classes, they are going well. I've enjoyed all of them so far. Archaeology is way cool, I wish there were more of it at Bowdoin. Traditional Irish music will be interesting, our first class was interrupted by a fire alarm, but it's in one of the more historic buildings. Actually, it's the one that looks like hogwarts, all castly like. Marine environments also looks like it will be a good class, the professor is from Dublin and I can actually kinda distinguish the accent. He's a little easier to understand then people from Cork whose accents are a little sharper. I had my first tin whistle lesson and I'm totally stoked to go to uillean pipes tomorrow, this is definitely my favorite part. I will be so good when I get back...just wait!!!
Possibly going to Blarney Castle this weekend. Hopefully I'll start taking pictures and will put some up. So far I've just really been in the city, which, though very European and different then home, isn't gorgeous, and I feel too much like a tourist if I start taking pictures of everything.
Irish proverb of the day:
Never take advice without a woman's guidance.
Ná glac pioc comhairle gan comhairle ban.
No comments:
Post a Comment