Ceili!!!

The ceili last night was really cool (Don't tell my parents). I went with a group of people from my building and we had a blast. I even knew a couple of the dances (The Siege of Venice I think...it may even be the one that's in the video?) and was definitely a little more adept then some of the people there, thanks Folklife! But whether or not people knew what they were doing, everyone had a blast! Hopefully we'll find more to go to. We were saying that we wish America had some kind of tradition like this that we could do at dances and such. We had a contra at Bowdoin once, but not that many people came, and it was mostly girls at that. But there were a bunch of guys at the ceili last night, and some of the American ones I talked to said that they were having a lot of fun, why can't we do stuff like this at home?!?! It probably helps that it was at a pub and everyone was having a Guinness or a Murphy's. 

Another interesting realization from last night: not everyone in the States has to learn the Virginia Reel. I guess I know it originally from Oregon Trail, due to living in Oregon, but we do it every summer at Willowbrook and we just did it at school sometimes. Weird

Oh, other things I keep thinking to say but always forget when I go to write this:

-velcro shoes, surprisingly popular here, in the adult population. I guess not adult, more people my age, but still, I keep expecting some of them to light up too!

-The Irish say like almost as much as we do, but where we put it at the beginning or middle of sentences they put it at the end. So we would say "like, I had a really great time tonight", and they would say "I had a really great time tonight like". It always sound a little more sophisticated when they say it.

-I've been asked for directions twice and have been able to give them without hesitation. Yeah that's right, I know my way around Cork, Ireland. 

OMG, just got back from the gym, our rugby practice was just a gym session tonight, and now I can barely life my arms. I haven't worked out in a long time, and I bench pressed for the first time ever. Colleen and Rafa could do 10 kg, which we figured out is 22 lbs, I could barely just lift the bar...lame. But hopefully I'll keep going and work up. The only thing is that the gym is two miles away from where I live, and it's hard to work up the motivation to get over there and then come back after. Oh also, the gym is like brand new and all high tech. To get in, you swipe your card and then put your finger on a scanner and it reads your fingerprint!! WOAH, like crazy. Before you go in the first time you sign a waiver and then they put your fingerprints into the system...I guess it's so if someone steals your card they can't get into the gym, but really, that seems like a lot of work to keep people out. Also, to get into the library on campus you have to swipe your card, at Bowdoin anyone can go into the libraries. They're very protective/territorial here!

Irish proverb of the day:

A wren only has need for its nest.
Is leor don dreoilín a nead.

Preparing for their first ceili ever!!

The guy on the left was the caller...he was really good. they also did a cool broom dance I've never seen before. This pub also reminded me of the bar in Casablanca, the name of which I could not remember the whole night and had to look up when I got home...then felt really silly that I couldn't remember!