Evenings Out and Croagh Patrick

(Loads of new pictures under the blog album)

Whew, what a week it's been! So it turns out did not go to County Down or to the Aran Islands, but instead I had a blast around Galway and up in Westport. On Tuesday, I was walking downtown from a computer lab when I ran into none other than fellow Whitman student Quincy Meyers, who was coming to visit Tom Powers. Tom, always the great communicator, was not in town at the moment, so I took Quincy over to my flat and let him freshen up there. Tom then arrived with his little brother, and we hit the town. Now, this night was supposed to be pretty cool because there was a beach party at the GPO, a local club that I normally would stay away from, but if there's one costume I can pull off, it's swimming trunks and a sleeveless shirt. We hit the Hole in the Wall for a pint beforehand, and then went to the GPO, which turned out to be pretty fun. Oh, there was also Karaoke, so I rocked the Eagles "Take it Easy" and Tom did "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy. The dancing part turned out to be pretty lame, as it usually is and I vowed never to return to the GPO again, even though we had a decent time.

The following day was pretty slow. Quincy, Tom and I all went shopping across the bridge at Tesco and I bought some much needed staples (pasta, eggs, ham, milk, the usual). That evening I met up with a Jack and Margie Beedle's niece, Ann, who turned out to be great fun. We had a pint at the Kings Head and talked about Juneau, which made me regret not going back up there this summer. Oh well, I'll be back eventually ;). After that I got a call from Tom and was on my way to meet him and Quincy at a pub in Claddagh when I ran into some friends from work and was quickly dragged to Sally Longs. It was pretty random running into them, but we had a great time at the pub and then we got free passes to a local club...yep..the GPO (the club I had vowed never to return to.) Oh well, it turned out to be a blast and my Czech friend Marion (the bouncer at work) impressed all present with his amazing dance moves.

The next morning Tom, Quincy and I hopped on the bus for Westport. Our goal was to go in, cilmb Croagh Patrick, and get back to Galway that evening. It was a noble goal, but unfortunately we could not reach it. Tom was convinced that a bus left Westport at 7:15 for Galway and he was right, 7:15 a.m. We made it to Westport and then started the 8km walk from the town to the mountain, our thumbs oustretched the whole time. Unfortunately, no one picked us up, so we arrived at the Gateway of the mountain already pretty tired (well, I did at least.) Then was the actual climb, which is supposed to be like a climb through life. You start out and you're pretty refreshed and ready to tackle the mountain. The going is pretty steep, but hey, it's all good. Then you reach a plateau that's supposed to represent middle age. The going here was nice, flat, and had some great views. The hardest part was old age, the last part of the journey to the summitt where you had to struggle to get to the top. Don't know if that analogy makes sense, but I saw it on T.V. and though about it on the way up. It was definately a test of endurance for me, as I'm not the most in shape person at the moment, and by a few steps up the mountain I was already raining (I don't sweat, I rain.)

Now, a little background on Croagh Patrick (2,500 ft.): this mountain was supposedly the place where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days and nights and drove the snakes out of Ireland. There is a church at the top and for hundreds of years pilgrims have made their way to the top of the mountain. Nowadays it attracts tourists and religious pilgrims. Back in the day, people used to climb the mountain barefoot, and some people still do. We weren't that adventurous.

Well, despite a physical battle with myself, I made it to the top, and I felt very good for doing so. I always have this inner dialogue and soundtrack whenever I'm doing anything physical: running, exercising, and climbing. This was no exception, and the mountain to me was like an obstacle that some would say I wouldn't be able to accomplish. All kinds of feelings run through you when you feel tired and like you can't do something. Probably the worst part was having "Climb Every Mountain" from the Sound of Music in my head during most of the climb.

Reaching the top was awesome, but there was no water or the mythic pint of Guinesse at the top, so the climb down proved to be less difficult, but required more balance which I lack. I took two spills on the first stretch of the cilmb down, but did allright until about halfway, when my vision started blurring signalling an impending migraine. Not a great way to finish descending a mountain. I found some good company though with some older Irish climbers (in their late 50's) and we once again talked about gun control in America. Irish love to tell us we shouldn't have assault rifles, and I love to agree with them. When I finally made it to the bottom, we had missed the bus to Westport and decided to try our luck at hitch-hiking once again. I wasn't feeling hot at all, and luckily some nice people from Northern Ireland on vacation gave us a ride into town. Right after I got out of the car I found the nearest toilet for the mandatory naseau that follows one of these headaches. We ended up missing both the bus and the train out of Westport, which meant a hostel for the evening. The hostel was nice, but no Sheilas, and I went straight to bed at 7, waking up occasionally. I had to wake up for sure around 6:30 a.m. so I could catch the 7:15 bus out of Westport. I had the Tony the Tiger gig the following day.

I made it to Galway just fine after catching the early bus, and arrived to my job only to find that there was no Tony the Tiger suit for me. Bummer. (Then again, the event was an 8-14 year old rugby clinic sponsored by kellogs. I can just imagine getting my tail pulled by 8 year old ruggers.) The cool part is I still get paid for it, so that's pretty cool.

After the last couple of nights I need a little breather. Tonight I'm heading out into town again to hang out with Erin, another Whitman girl, who just got back from the mainland and hopefully do some karaoke at the River Inn for the quarter finals competition.

Hope all is well. Post comments if you wanna ;).

Cheers,

-Nate
"Climb every mountain. Ford every stream. Follow every rainbow..'til you find your dream"-The Sound of Music (bah)

Website of the Day: http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/03/forbes_party_companies.html Top 10 party corporations. What is a party corporation anyway?

Workin' Weekend

Work Work Work, that was the theme of this weekend (well, at least Saturday and Sunday.) The usual working things applied, but I'm really having a great time getting to know my employees. I've learned to say a few words in Polish, mainly cuss words, and I still don't know a word of Chinese, but that's allright. My Pakistani friend has taught me a few words of muslim prayer, and he's also teaching me some Pakistani songs as well. This in between making millions of milkshakes and serving burgers with Johnny Cash,Bob Dillan, and the Beach Boys in the background. Time flies quickly at work, so no complaints.

I'm also continuing my pub tour of Galway. After work I find a random pub and go in for a pint just to check it out. Last night I went to the pub right across from Eddies to watch the Ireland Vs. Israel football match. They tied the match, but Ireland was ahead for most of it.

What's been interesting is the Easter Holiday, which is today. In Ireland they close almost everything for Good Friday, but everything is up and running on Easter.

So I have an open week approaching with work on Saturday and Sunday and I have two options for trips: Either up to Northern Ireland and County Down, or to the Aran Islands for a couple of days. Both would be fun, but the Northern Ireland trip is much more pricey (they're on the pound in N.I., which is no fun.) I'll keep you posted as to what happens there. Oooh, and on Thursday I get to dress up as Tony the Tiger, so that will be entertaining I'm sure. I'll be sure to bring the camera for that one.

Anyway, I'm off to see if the Front Door really does serve the best pint in Galway. Hope all is well with all of you, and I wish you a happy Easter.

Cheers,

-Nate

"I fell in to a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns: the ring of fire. The ring of fire."-Johnny Cash

Website of the Day: www.fark.com This place is wonderful for random news. Check out the comments pages as well if you want to see some philisophical/current debate.

Connemara Adventure

(The pictures have been updated. Check them out under both the blog album and my Ireland album.)

It's been a great week for travelling around Ireland. Today I did a nice, cheap bus tour with some friends of mine from work, Bastien (France) and Thomas (Poland.) We got on the bus around 10a.m. and were off for Connemara, which is basically surrounds Galway on the North and West. The Connemara is a barren, beautiful, and stark landscape. It's mountainous, rugged, and glacially carved. It actually felt like I was up in British Columbia, near Atlin while we took this drive, the landscapes are very similar, only B.C. and the Yukon don't have insane numbers of sheep. There were really cool bogs near here, and I finally learned exactly what a bog is: it's condensed and decayed plant matter (similar to coal when you dry it out, but cleaner.) They dry it out and burn it for fuel.

Anyway, we stopped in a town on the way called Leenane, which is right on the mouth of Ireland's only fjord, Killary fjord. From there the bus took us to Kylemore Abbey. This giant place was built by a British dude who dedicated it to his wife as a honeymoon present. Wow. When she passed away he even built her a church. Talk about dedication. The bus then took us down to the Southern Galway coast and through Spiddal. No bogs here though, just lots of "Connemara Ponies," which seemed to be our tour guide's favorite thing to describe. There were also an insane amount of stone fences to mark territory and to free up the soil of stone so it could be used for planting. The result: an insane number of fences and houses made out of the abundant stones.

I ended up back in Galway around supper-time, and treated myself to dinner at Riodan's, a restaurant on Quay street that serves "traditional" Irish food. I had Seafood Chowder and Shepherd's pie, and could barely walk out of the restaurant. It was delicious, affordable, putting Riordan's on my "top restaurant's in Galway" short-list.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

-Nate

"Midnight, our sons and daughters. Were cut down and taken from us.Hear their heartbeatWe hear their heartbeat."-U2

Website of the Day: http://bbspot.com/News/2005/03/top_11_messy_office.html Why a messy office is better than a clean one. Maybe they'll have a "Why a messy room..." as well..it would apply to me :).

Post-Cork

(pictures should be up tomorrow...when they are this post will tell you that)

First off, my sincerest condolences to the Libsack family and all of those who knew and loved Adam. I personally did not know him that well, but he seemed like a great guy and it is always a tragedy when something like this happens.

Cork turned out to be a great time. The Hostel I stayed at (which I happened to find by total luck after leaving the bus station on Monday night) was "Shiela's Hostel," up on a hill. My first impression of Cork (aside from the tight architecture) was "finally! A city with topographic relief!" Cork is situated in a valley, so part of the city is built on a hill, and when I put my pictures online (tomorrow, probably) you will see what I'm talking about. Anyway, the Hostel is halfway up one of these hills and it's in a prime location for a budget price. The other nice thing about hostels is that you meet the most random people. I think about half of the people staying at the Hostel were from the states and probably %90 were my age or 3 to 4 years older/younger. The rest were from all over, primarily Europe (Germany, Holland, Spain to name a few.) After falling asleep in a room with 8 beds (four bunk units) I woke up pretty early and started on my epic quest to Blarney to go see the famous Blarney Castle/stone. I went with some new friends I met from Georgia and we had a grand ol' time. I was immediately impressed with the castle. It's huge, and on a stone base. Most of the castles I've seen in Ireland I haven't been too impressed with, but this one was different. I could almost imagine being some peasant and approaching the walls, looking up going "Hmm, guess someone important lives there." I also have a new picture to add to my "Nate: in front of famous buildings" set, which will hopefully keep growing. Maybe when I'm an old man I'll be able to look back and go "I remember that."

Anyway, next to the Castle they had a completely touristy "Druid's forest" thing. The forest was cool, but the signs for "fairy's glen" and "witches kitchen" were a little too over the top (they were obviously named those things so we'd go "really?") Right, anywho we ended up back in Cork after a lovely lunch in Blarney and I acidentally discovered my bed and fell asleep. Afterwards I did a nice little trek around Cork City well into the evening and found a charming little take out place where I had a double cheese burger and frieds...with peas on them. Weird huh? I'm starting to really enjoy fries with salt and vinegar, which is how I consumed these things. The cool thing about this place was it has been open since 1940 and is family run. They still use the same old cash register from when the shop first opened up, and locals kept entering and exiting while the guy behind the counter (in his 60s at least) was talking football (yes, the kicking kind) smack to a little kid and knew all of his customers by name. Even though the place was dark and "dodgy," it oozed charm and I left full and proud of myself for one of those "cheap food, good company" finds. I'd have another one the following day thanks to Frommers. I then treked back to the hostel where I met some girls from Linfield also studying in Galway and found out we had a mutual acquaintance from some friends in Juneau. Small world.

This morning I woke up and hopped on the bus for Kinsale. This place turned out to be awesome, and oozing with history and the smell of the sea. The town is situated on a bay and this is where the epic "Battle of Kinsale" in 1601 took place. This was Ireland's best chance at independence when a Spanish force was sent up and garrisoned in the town. Hugh O'Neill, the rebelling Earl of Tyrone managed to get his army clear from Nothern Ireland to Kinsale to attempt to relieve pressure off the Spanish and beat the English. Unfortunately, the English knew Hugh was coming and planned accordingly. The Irish troops did well in guerrilla warfare, but not in traditional warfare, and were crushed. Historians say that if Hugh had just waited awhile once he was in Kinsale, the battle would've been his because the British troops were dying in droves due to Typhus. Makes you wonder what would've happened if Ireland were a Spanish protectorate. Maybe Ireland would've been an American protectorate after the Spanish American war? Spooky.

I got to Kinsale and made friends with a couple of Northwestern Grads who were taking some vacation time. We walked about a mile out of town to an old star-shaped fort built in the late 1600's called Fort Charles and did the tour. Once again, pictures were taken. This fort was beautiful too, and the site of many famous battles during the Jacobite and Williamite wars. I then took a nice seaside path back to a pub I read about in my Ireland guide (thanks mom!), the Spaniard, where I had some micro-brew (Kinsale Ale) and seafood and fries. I also made friends with some older local guys and we talked about the merits of a stricter gun-control policy in the US (we all just found out about the school shootings in Minnesota.) They then gave me a ride down to the Bus-station, but I left my camera in the truck and was about to call the pub to see how I could contact them when one of the guys returned with my camera. I love this country!

The rest was one big, long bus ride as I got back to Cork and then hopped on the 5-hour bus ride from Cork to Galway. Just check this same post tomorrow and it'll tell you if there are new pictures up. I have some doozies. Hope all is well.

-Nate
"Beyond the ledge lies cold. How can I change your mind?"-Perry and Matt, "Friend of Mine"

Website of the Day: http://www.askmen.com/fashion/travel_top_ten/18_travel_top_ten.html Top theme parks! yay!

Cork

So I woke up this morning, finished a paper, and looked at my empty flat. I then said to myself "time to do some travelling" so I decided that Cork would be the place to go. Cork is about a 5 hour bus ride from Galway and lies in South-Western Ireland. It's named the "rebel city" because the original finnian movement started here. There was also a really cool battle in 1601 not too far from here at a place called Kinsale that I'm going to check out tomorrow, along with the obligatory visit to Blarney Castle. You can bet I'll have some sweet pictures from this journey. My first impressions of Cork are pretty positive.

The city is Europe's "Culture Capital: 2005" (they pick a different Euro city every year.) Cork people think their city is by far the best in Ireland, and are quick to point out that Dublin sucks. The city itself is a penisula surrounded on the north and the south by a canal and the River Lee. Lots of bridges and water, which always makes for a scenic city. The architecture is also different here than Galway, with taller old buildings and cool round spires. It's like Cork is trying to be a big city without being too big so it can still have the small town Irish charm. Galway, by the way, does this very well. Compare this with Dublin, which ends up being another European city (still a nice place though.)

This will also be my first experience with a Youth Hostel, which I've somehow managed to avoid these past few months, and I must say that they're great. It's like living in dorm for a few days, and you meet some interesting people. I probably won't do much tonight after posting this because downtown is literally dead on a Monday night in Cork, which is pretty surprising, normally Galway has a little bit of action on Mondays, but not Cork. I also had my first pint of Beamish, which is the Cork equivalent to Guinesse. It's good, but no Guinesse (this has a thicker head and a more bitter taste.) Talked to a drunk Corkman about the places I should visit, so I've also added Cobh (pronounced: "cove") and "Shannon's Bells," on top of a clocktower in town. Should be good times.

It's kinda weird travelling alone, but I enjoy it because I'm not as tied to the whims of others to figure out where I'm going..I get to decide which is nice. The negative aspect is obviously not having company, which can be a bummer, but no complaints here. Also the weather has taken a turn for the usual with lots of lovely rain and grey weather. Of course the weather was pristine while I was working this weekend ;). C'est la vie.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll let you know about my epic adventure once I get back to Galway on Wednesday night or Thurdsay morning. I'm probably going to be taking a bus tour of the Connemara (a region west and north of Galway) with some co-workers (my friends Thomas from Poland and Bastien from France.) Pictures and narration will of course follow.

Hope all is well with everyone. Aunt Annie, I hope you've enjoyed your pacific adventure.

Cheers,

-Nate
"You see the face on the T.V. screen? Staring at you every Sunday? You see the face on the billboard? Well that man is me." -Genesis

Site of the Day: http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2005/031905.asp A good satire on the political fiasco that's being made over this poor woman's life. I would add a political tirade here, but the satire speaks for itself.

St. Patrick's Day

(New pictures up under the "Pictures related to blog" section! Woot!)

I made it back safe and sound from my St. Paddy's day trip to Dublin. I left on Wednesday night with my flat-mate, Will, and arrived at UCD at his friend Dan's apartment for the always comfortable floor sleeping. My back still hurts from that ;). The next morning Will and Dan's friends from college arrived early in the morning and the festivities began. I have a new respect for the duty-free stores in airports, and was amazed at how much I missed a few choice American beverages. We ended up watching part of the parade and walking around Dublin for awhile, before heading back to the apartment to nap.

That night we made it back into the city, but I wasn't feeling too hot so while they went to the clubs and bars I walked around and saw some more of the city at night with my camera in tow. I'll be posting pictures shortly. I even made it to U2's recording studios on Windmill Lane, which was really cool. Once I was done there I began the epic task of trying to find a cab back home, which proved virtually impossible as everyone downtown was trying to get a cab out of town. I started around 1 a.m. and didn't get a cab until around 3. Yuck. On the plus side, I did get to talk to Jilian for awhile, who claims I'm sounding more and more "Irish" the more she talks to me, so that was really nice. I also got to see the drunken shenagins of other St. Paddy's Day party-goers, which as you can imagine was an epic party for all involved.

Now I'm weary, need to do laundry, and also need a shower ;). Then there's a little matter of a paper to finish, so I'll keep you guys posted. My apartment is now empty and I am the lone occupier for the next two weeks as the fellas head to Europe. Right now Will should be arriving in Amsterdam, and I'm not sure where Dan's starting off his trip, but they should have a great time. I have work this weekend and hopefully a bit this week as well so I can start really saving up. It'll be a good time for sure.

More genealogy news as well: thanks to Carrie, who has been really putting loose ends together, we found someone who's already done most of the work (even visited the old Fitzpatrick farm) in Ballykeel, so it'll be a matter of time before I get in touch with relatives in Ireland on that side. As always I'll keep you posted there as well.

That's all for now, hope all is well. The weather is getting warmer and sunnier. Pictures will be posted soon, I promise.

Cheers,

-Nate
"You've gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice. You know I took the poison, from the poison stream...then I floated, out of here."-U2

Link of the day: www.gamespy.com For all of you video game nerds..(ok, so all of my friends)...this site's for you.

Genealogical Crusade

So I woke up this morning to not only a call from Jilian, but also an e-mail from Caroline, a second cousin on my dad's side of the family. We've been in touch for awhile now before I left for Ireland because she did some research on the Fitzpatrick side of the family.

It also turns out I met her a little earlier (when I was around 16) and was into my "lets meet people online because there's no one in Harrington" phase. I turned to the natural choice for social connection: The internet and chat rooms. This would lead me through the topsy-turvey world of meeting super-models from Italy, a girl named "Angel," a few rabid U2 fans, French girls whom I practiced the newly learned and subsequently forgotton language and, finally, discovering not so long-lost relatives in Spokane. I met Caroline's daughter, Danielle, and came to a party and had a great time, but afterwards we didn't keep in touch very well.

Right, anywho, Carrie sent me an e-mail with a nice, definitive genealogical link to Ireland (we have two in fact.) Here comes the fun part: Ok, so my grandpa is Morris Fitzpatrick, his father was Mark Fitzpatrick, grandfather John Fitzpatrick, and the one who emmigrated was his great grandfather, William Fitzpatrick (with John, his son, in tow.) William left Ireland in between 1809 and 1867 (the span of his life) for Ontario, Canada with his relatives and all but one child. Arthur, the eldest of the group, stayed in Ireland. Cool huh? And the best part is, we know where they came from! Ballykeel in County Down (which is a south-eastern county in Northern Ireland..just north of Dublin.) Chances are that Arthur got married and had children, which gives the Fitzpatricks a pretty solid link in Northern Ireland.

The other cool (whenever I use "cool" here just substitute it with "nerdy." If you're falling asleep and you might find this more humorous), is that these Fitzpatricks were Catholic landowners in Northern Ireland, which prior to the 19th century (1800s), experienced heavy English and Scottish plantation and was (and remains still today) strongly Protestant. With the exception of a few (in which the Fitzpatricks might be included) most families in these areas (and most of Ireland) were excluded rights for land-holding due to the fact that they were Catholic. This means these Fitzpatricks might have had some clout on top of being Fitzpatricks. So the big mystery that I want to solve is this: What happened to Arthur? Did he go on to hold on to the lands? Were the Fitzpatricks in fact that well known in Ballykeel? Maybe Arthur was forced to turn Protestant while the rest of the family left for Canada where they could practice Catholicism more freely (although conditions during the mid 19th century (in the US at least) weren't that great). We'll see what I find out, but a trip to Ballykeel is definately in the works.

The other connection we have is a Dublin one. John Fitzpatrick (my great-great grandfather) was married to Maggie Lawless (my great-great grandmother) in Canada, but Maggie's parents came from Dublin and were in fact married there. We even have a date for the marriage: 1844 (right during the famine).

I'll keep you posted as I find out more, and once again a big "Thank you" to Carrie who has really been doing most of the work, and I'm hoping I can reciprocate soon by finding our long-lost Fitzpatricks.

In other news I got offered a job for March 31st to dress up as Tony the Tiger for a "Frosties" promotion (they don't call them Frosted Flakes here, but they're still grrrrrrreeeeeeat!" I've never been a mascot before, and I can't wait to be tormented by little children, but it pays well, so that'll be mighty-fine. St. Patrick's day is on Thursday, and I'm thinking I might stay in Galway for it (Galway's celebration is supposed to be just as epic as Dublin's, only they don't dye their river green...err..wait..is that Chicago?)

That's all for now. Hope all is well.

Cheers,

-Nate

"Like a fire I'm drawn to her lust. I can't run from her, but lord I must. Like a demon I'm drawn to her flame. I'm gonna burn, calling her name."-Tonic

Link of the day: http://www.retrocrush.com/tvthemes/75-100.html This website has the top 100 tv themes, according to the website. Ever wonder the lyrics of a tv-theme song, or maybe you'd just like to hear it so you can have it in your head for the next couple of weeks. This is the site for you.

Whoops

Hey all, sorry about the long delay in my posts. My memory stick (which includes all of my pictures that aren't online) was stolen last week. I'll let you all know if it turns up, I'm hoping it does but at this point there's not alot of hope for it.

Other than that this past week has been great fun. The first "US v. Ireland" soccer match took place on Wednesday between my flat-mates and our Irish friends. Despite a valiant effort and hilarious costumes on our part, we lost 1-5. At least we scored a goal. I played the role of photo-manager, taking pictures and yelling helpful advice such as "Kick!" and "c'mon boys! D-up! USA!" Another highlight was the singing of our respective anthems before the match. The US national anthem really is pretty long compared to the Irish one, which is in Irish-Gaelic and shorter than ours.

Work was also fun. I started on Friday, after which we had the mandatory "these are the things we need to improve" managers meeting after work. The not so mandatory part after that was going to the pub, which was also fun. I really got to know my co-workers of various nationalities while we enjoyed a few Guinesse. (ok, more than a few, but hey.) Sorry, the camera did not make that trip with me (I'm a little hesistant to take anything important out with me after the memory-stick incident).

Another reason for the lack of posting has been my focus on academia..I have two papers due next week, one of which is due tomorrow (and almost finished) another due on Friday, then I will never have to write a paper again until the fall (unless I opt to write a paper instead of taking an exam in a few classes, we'll see.) Easter Break also starts next week, so hopefully my work schedule isn't too restrictive (it shouldn't be) and I'll be able to tour Ireland a little. Also, I get St. Paddy's day off and the day after, which is amazing. A trip to Dublin this late might be a little out of the question since hostels have all been booked for the celebration over there. I might either stay in Galway or go down to Cork to celebrate the holiday..but if I make it to Dublin I'll be sure to also let you know..I could probably stay with some new study-abroad friends. I'll have to look into that.

Right, that's all for now. I'll be extremely happy once these papers are all done. Oh, and I'm officially going to the u2 show on December 19th in the Portland Rose Garden thanks to Jilian :). She's the greatest! I mean, c'mon, it's true love when someone will go over to a computer lab at 9:30 (early for a college student) and get you tickets online.

Cheers,

-Nate
"But you deny for others, what you demand for yourself."-U2

Website of the day: www.rednova.com This site is pretty cool, lots of neat satellite pictures and science-related nerdery. Great for putting the "pro" in procrastinate.

Gastronomical Journey

(More pictures up on both the blog and Ireland related albums. I was photo trigger-happy yesterday)

Yesterday was truly a delight. I had a two hour break in between classes and choir and decided to pick up my paycheck and do some shopping (needed drain-declogger for our shower, which has up to this point been a pool after 5 minutes of use), dishtowels (we'd been using whatever cloth-like substance available to dry things in our kitchen prior to this), and some stain-remover for my currently multi-colored work shirt. Luckily there is a lovely store called Mary's right near Eddie Rockets which carries a full line of budget cleaning supplies and knick-knacks. I went there and also spotted a nice 6-nations rugby jersey for a low price. Rockin.

Then I got hungry, and realized that, with the exception of a few places, my exploration of Galways culinary scene had up to this point been lacking. I decided to check out a fish and chips or seafood chowder place. I'd heard of a really good one called Nimmo's behind the Spanish Arch, but that place was sadly closed on Mondays. So instead I found a little gem called McDonagh's, and boy was I in for a treat. I ordered the cod and chips, with the full intention of comparing it to back home. For those not familiar with my Fish and Chips love, it dates back to when Mom and Dad owned the Challenger Cafe. Every Friday, mom would make the chowder and dad would make batter and hand batter the cod in order to make his county-famous (hey, maybe even Eastern Washington famous) fish n' chips with mom's lovely chowder. Needless to say, I have exacting standards. Well, sorry Dad, but the cod I had here was absolutely amazing, mainly because it was fresh. I also got a few pieces of battered whiting from a "dodgy" Irish man in his 40's who ordered too much. I later saw him walking around Shop Street in a haze midnight that night. The chowder was good, but I still like Mom's or Moe's (in Oregon) better.

All in all it was a great day, and I made it back in time for choir, after which I hung out with my flat mates Will and Dan and Dan's brother Joe, who's visiting from Boston for this week.

That's all for now. Hope all is well.

Cheers,

-Nate
"You're the cutest thing I ever did see. I really love your peaches wanna shake your tree."-The Steve Miller Band

Website of the day: http://adn.com/news/alaska/story/6243389p-6120333c.html ..the things you can do with a sprinkler, freezing weather, and too much free-time.

Class and Work

(Pictures have been updated under the Ireland section! Take a gander with the web-address on the left. Also, I've created a special "pictures related to blog" section so that if I write about it and have a picture, it will probably be in this section.)

First of all, Happy Birthday to both Anna and Collin. They're 19 now and it was great to talk to both of them last night. Before I know it they'll be all grown up, which will make me an old man, and mom and dad ancient.

This weekend was very much work themed and oriented, which wasn't too bad of a thing. I could spend a bit of time whining about how we didn't have enough people on the floor, were swamped, lazy co-workers, (the usual restaurant rants ;), but I won't. I'm still having a great time and the free food at the end of the day makes it all worthwhile anyway (well, that and the tips/paycheck), and slowly accruing the necessary funds to take a tour of continental Europe before I fly back to the states. I might take some time off from school as well to take some trips around Ireland. With spring break approaching and most of my friends heading to Europe then, I'll probably have more time to do just that (Dublin and Belfast are at the top of the list currently.)

So, with that in mind I thought I'd take a little time talking about the school system here, how it works and how it's catered to us visiting students..the benefits and the downsides. First off, the benefits: Classes are easy. They really aren't difficult at all. You go to a twice weekly lecture and a bi-weekly tutorial (basically a small-group discussion of the lectures.) Each history class has one mid-term and then a final exam (I'm opting to take all of the exams, I think I do better on those than gargantuan final papers that are easy to procrastinate on.) On top of that, Whitman and Butler (the program I'm studying through) have a sort of agreement where only our credits transfer, our grades do not. So, let's say I get a C in a class..all that matters is that I passed said class rather than achieved a high grade because the grade isn't factored into my overall GPA. Now, this doesn't mean I've been lazy academically, on the contrary, while most of my friends skip their lectures as a matter of course I've been going to mine (it's the nerd in me, I enjoy my history lectures.) So don't worry mom and any other relatives/past teachers reading this blog. There's simply less pressure, which is nice. Being a foreign student also gives me some leniency. One friend of mine on the student council told me that I don't need to worry about classes at all because the college will never fail foreign students...they want us to come back and study there for grad. school.

The downsides are pretty big though. For one, all of my lectures are huge (around 100 people in some of my largest classes.) Now, I've been spoiled by Whitman as far as small class-sizes and interactions entailed there, so this complaint really doesn't carry much weight for state-school people. Along those same lines, the library runs on extremely bad hours (8 a.m.-10p.m. weeknights. Yuck.) and it's almost impossible to get the relevant reading materials for a class when there are over 60 people in it. So by the time I'm able to get sources together, it's almost too late to really gain much value from the readings. Compared to Whitman, this college is big and impersonal. Once again, I'm spoiled by my home school with regards to things, and I'm glad I get to experience a "real" (albeit foreign) institution for a semester.

That's all for today. Once again the pictures have been updated. Hope all is well and keep those comments coming (ooh, and check out my new "website of the day" link down below. Beer lovers: rejoice!)

Cheers,

-Nate
"I resolve to call her up, a thousand times a day. And ask her if she'll marry me, in some old-fashioned way." -The Police

Special link of the day: http://ohhh.myhead.org/list/1act1.html This lovely link features a numbered rating of the world's top beers. Looks like I need to visit Belgium.

Election Woes

Before retiring to bed last night after a rousing evening of Karaoke fun with my friends Erin, Cat, and Mary, I got a text from Shane saying that he lost the election, which is a major bummer. All of the talk and campaigning around the election got me thinking: maybe I should run for ASWC president? Hmm...well, let me know what you think anyway (whitties) because it'd be a tough thing to do while in another country, but who knows. I'll give it some time and think about a platform.

Details on Karaoke night, Erin and I did a duet to "Summer Nights" from everyone's favorite cult-classic, Grease. I also sang "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Old Blue Eyes himself. We're now in the semi-finals for a karaoke competition (one for our duet and then myself for my solo work) so who knows, maybe I'll make some extra Euro on the side.

Tonight I get to do more promotion work at the Living Room, and I have to be there at 5:30 (which is pretty early.) Just finished my paper on the South African War. 2 down, only 2 more to go, and then I'm done with papers for this semester and will only have exams to look forward to.
Last night I also returned from the bar and called mom and dad. It was great to talk to them.

On my walk back I also stopped at a staple of Irish fast food: Supermacs. We don't have them back home, but I'm convinced we should. This is a modern fast-food wonder. The restaurants sell burgers, chips, pizza, kebabs, etc with a menu about twice the size of McDonalds. Their bathrooms are truly state of the art. Instead of sinks, they have "hand washing stations" where you put your hand underneath the sensor and it squirts soap, runs water, and dries your hands all in a cycle. The wonders of technology. This almost beats my excitement after my first encounter with self-flushing toilets in the 1st grade! The downside to Supermacs is that they nickle and dime you for ketchup, and only give you 1 packet standard with your chips, which require at least 4 or 5. Oh well, no fast food chain is perfect (except for Jack in the Box..how I miss you.)

So, will my election ramblings be but a pipe dream? Or will I pull through and try to do a remote campaign? Only time will tell.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

-Nate
"She never mentions the word addiction. In certain company. Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan. After you meet her family" -The Black Crowes

Election Day

(new pictures on at my picture website. Check them out.)

So today's the day of the big election. I've spent the past few days helping my buddy Shane out with the campaign process by going door to door at a few places last night. I also went to an international student's banquet, where students either had to bring a dish from their native country or do a song/dance. I sang a song, and there was a group of guys from Malaysia who did a really well choreographed dance. All of the Americans brought mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelley, but as a whole there was some quality food there and I was sure to at least try a bite of all of it. I think my favorite dishes were the German and Finnish desserts (both made by friends of mine from the choir.)

I woke up this morning and apparently my flat-mate, Dan, got a call from the employment office here at the university, so it was off to work. We basically hauled in and out boxes for a post-graduate students fair in the main student building. It was pretty easy, and it was good to take a look at the universities and stuff around Ireland. Tonight I might be headin to a woman's rugby party (a bunch of Whitman girls and some friends of mine are having a party tonight..and it's karaoke, so I should go...we'll see what happens there...there also might be a post-election bash for my friend Shane, if he wins...decisions decsisions.)

That's all for now.

Cheers,

-Nate
"So why does it always seem to be? Me looking at you, you looking at me. It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all."-Genesis

On the Campaign Trail

Last night I helped out my buddy Shane run for Student Union President by wearing a blue "Cosgrove for President" t-shirt and knocking on doors saying "Hey, vote for this dude." This was after a kickin' choir party with wine and pizza, so I had alot of fun meeting random people at Corrib Village. I ended up in one flat for around a half hour just hanging out (I was offerred tea, and I never pass up tea.)

Now it's on to paper-writing. I might be on the campaign trail again tonight when they go to Gort na Corribe (another student housing place) across the bridge. We'll see about that, it'll depend on the progress of this paper.

Not much else to say, guess this post is pretty boring.

Cheers,
-Nate
"And now my bitter hands, chafe beneath the clouds, of what was everything"-Pearl Jam