Yesterday was my class meeting. There are eight or nine of us (a couple people didn't show & my supervisor couldn't remember the exact number). I, unsurprisingly, am the only American. There's one other girl who didn't go to UCC for undergrad. Everyone seems really nice so far.
My class load seems a bit crazy. Aside from the very few demands of postgrad course work (a one hour course once a week, one two hour course every fortnight -- side note: I love that they actually use the word "fortnight"), I have to attend some undergrad courses. They're all third year courses (which would be like our upper division/senior seminar classes). Luckily I don't have to be graded in any of these. They're suppose to help with the understanding of 20th century Irish history. So, I've got one seminar and four lectures to attend (with one more lecture course to attend next semester) -- the seminar is required of all MA's, but the lectures are to be taken if you didn't take them as an undergrad...and, well, I clearly have taken none of them.
We also get to take research trips this semester. Which I'm dorkily excited about. :)
Several will be around Cork, but we also get to go to Dublin: the National Archives, National Library, Trinity College, Univ. College Dublin, Military Archives...maybe another place or two.
Oh, and throughout all of that, I have to write a 20,000 word thesis. By next October.
And pass an examination & 5,000 word essay shortly after Christmas.
No pressure, right?
In more exciting news, I got to pretend like I was in charge yesterday afternoon. Checking names off a list and sending almost 40 Arcadia study abroad students to Co. Limerick for their homestays. It took up less than an hour of my day & I got paid. :) Yay for money!
I was a bit nervous about it, but I think that mainly 'cause I'm just a couple years older than they all are. I'm sure I'll do much better when I help out on the Killarney day-trip.
Also, last night I finally got to meet some Irish people! Started out the night at an International Student Society meeting/party at a nightclub, which turned into the typical Friday night scene. Which was so loud you could barely hear yourself think (I think I still have a bit of a headache from the loud music...curses).
Hm...still trying to decide what to do today.... Exploring is always a fun option. :) But getting rained on is not. Such a dilemma.
30 September 2006
28 September 2006
Registration = Exhausted Kate
I'm now an official student at UCC! Again, according to their database, since they still have record of my old student number from when I studied abroad. So now I have a completely different start to my student ID number than everybody else...I really am special, apparently. :P
Registration was such a boring process, though. I got there around 10:15 and after a half-hour of queuing, I finally was able to get into the room where registration took place. Then, I had to queue three more times (actual registration, fees, ID card).
I still have no clue which classes (or modules, as they call them) I'm in. Nor when they meet. I really hope that meeting with my advisor for our first class meeting will clear all of that up.
After all that "fun," I decided to do something low key. So I went to the Crawford Art Gallery. It's a neat gallery -- Irish artists, largely modern art (or, at least, mostly art from the past century). They also had a whole room dedicated to plaster copies of Greek and Roman sculpture...mixed, of course, with a couple of original Irish plaster and marble sculptures.
I think the main thing that bugged me about the museum was the floor plan; it was slightly confusing -- if only they had maps! But the art work was really interesting.
Also, there is a slight mystery bothering me. The bells of Finbarre's go off every Wednesday night for an hour or two in 10-15 minute intervals. It's very annoying because: a) neither my roomie or I know why they go off, b) they're extremely loud and bounce off all the walls around here, and c) they last so long. So, my new mission is to figure this out. It's always fun to have a mystery to solve. :)
Registration was such a boring process, though. I got there around 10:15 and after a half-hour of queuing, I finally was able to get into the room where registration took place. Then, I had to queue three more times (actual registration, fees, ID card).
I still have no clue which classes (or modules, as they call them) I'm in. Nor when they meet. I really hope that meeting with my advisor for our first class meeting will clear all of that up.
After all that "fun," I decided to do something low key. So I went to the Crawford Art Gallery. It's a neat gallery -- Irish artists, largely modern art (or, at least, mostly art from the past century). They also had a whole room dedicated to plaster copies of Greek and Roman sculpture...mixed, of course, with a couple of original Irish plaster and marble sculptures.
I think the main thing that bugged me about the museum was the floor plan; it was slightly confusing -- if only they had maps! But the art work was really interesting.
Also, there is a slight mystery bothering me. The bells of Finbarre's go off every Wednesday night for an hour or two in 10-15 minute intervals. It's very annoying because: a) neither my roomie or I know why they go off, b) they're extremely loud and bounce off all the walls around here, and c) they last so long. So, my new mission is to figure this out. It's always fun to have a mystery to solve. :)
25 September 2006
It Feels Like Summer
Well, not "proper" summer, since it hasn't hit the upper-90s or 100; but a good Irish type summer, what I think of as fall (& sometimes winter) at home: mid-60s, sunny, slightly cool in the evening. Just nice. I almost broke out flip-flops it was so nice...& considering the blisters my heels gave me, I should've. Lesson learned, I suppose.
The weather was equally lovely yesterday, which made the trip to Kinsale that much better. I so adore that town. Wandering around Charles Fort and the town gave my roomie and I some time to bond, which we really hadn't done that much of. It was really nice.
I really haven't talked much about my roomie...in part because I couldn't really understand what her name was. But I have it figured out now (although I cannot pronounce her surname...it's far to confusing still). Her name is Nienke (NEEN-ka) & she's from the Netherlands. She's about six-months older than I am -- and she has two masters degrees already (it sort of makes me feel like an underachiever). She's actually not technically enrolled as a PhD student yet, instead she's teaching first year Latin and Greek grammar classes this year since the prof. who usually does so is going on pregnancy leave, & she'll start her PhD (in neo-Latin) next year.
Meeting new people is such fun. It's so fun to find what people truly love -- and what they want to do with their lives.
I had more opportunity to meet random new people tonight. All were American students. Because since Nienke & I "hosted" some of the heavy bags that got sent ahead of the Arcadia students, Valerie (who is the coordinator for things for Arcadia here in Cork) asked us to join the dinner that all the little undergrads get to go to. It was rather funny to be going to this dinner again (after all, I'd gone to this thing thrice when I was here with Arcadia before)...and who am I to pass up a completely free dinner?
I ended up sitting by a really sweet girl from W&M, who may be a travel partner sometime this semester. We both want to travel to Wales and Glasgow, so hopefully we'll be able to find some time to do that.
I also might have a bit of a job from going to dinner. Valerie sort of recognised me, and I explained I had done this program two years ago (geez, that seems so long ago!). I offered to help her out with things, and thus, I might be going up to Co. Limerick on Friday on a bus to help deposit all those students for their home stays. And I'd get €20 out of it (or something like that, Valerie really wasn't too sure).
Registration is on Thursday.and my first class meeting is on Friday. I should know exactly what I've gotten myself into after that. If not, hopefully it will all be cleared up early next week (after yet another info. session, this one for History).
The weather was equally lovely yesterday, which made the trip to Kinsale that much better. I so adore that town. Wandering around Charles Fort and the town gave my roomie and I some time to bond, which we really hadn't done that much of. It was really nice.
I really haven't talked much about my roomie...in part because I couldn't really understand what her name was. But I have it figured out now (although I cannot pronounce her surname...it's far to confusing still). Her name is Nienke (NEEN-ka) & she's from the Netherlands. She's about six-months older than I am -- and she has two masters degrees already (it sort of makes me feel like an underachiever). She's actually not technically enrolled as a PhD student yet, instead she's teaching first year Latin and Greek grammar classes this year since the prof. who usually does so is going on pregnancy leave, & she'll start her PhD (in neo-Latin) next year.
Meeting new people is such fun. It's so fun to find what people truly love -- and what they want to do with their lives.
I had more opportunity to meet random new people tonight. All were American students. Because since Nienke & I "hosted" some of the heavy bags that got sent ahead of the Arcadia students, Valerie (who is the coordinator for things for Arcadia here in Cork) asked us to join the dinner that all the little undergrads get to go to. It was rather funny to be going to this dinner again (after all, I'd gone to this thing thrice when I was here with Arcadia before)...and who am I to pass up a completely free dinner?
I ended up sitting by a really sweet girl from W&M, who may be a travel partner sometime this semester. We both want to travel to Wales and Glasgow, so hopefully we'll be able to find some time to do that.
I also might have a bit of a job from going to dinner. Valerie sort of recognised me, and I explained I had done this program two years ago (geez, that seems so long ago!). I offered to help her out with things, and thus, I might be going up to Co. Limerick on Friday on a bus to help deposit all those students for their home stays. And I'd get €20 out of it (or something like that, Valerie really wasn't too sure).
Registration is on Thursday.and my first class meeting is on Friday. I should know exactly what I've gotten myself into after that. If not, hopefully it will all be cleared up early next week (after yet another info. session, this one for History).
23 September 2006
The Sky Turned A Funny Colour Tonight
The sky is back to a perfectly normal blue-grey-twilighty colour now. But the pinky-yellow-ish tint was rather frightening...I guess that comes from living most of my life at the end of tornado alley.
It's been raining on and off for the past three or four days. Because a hurricane decided to break apart in this part of the Atlantic. For two days there were downpours -- downpours with lots and lots of wind (in Northern Ireland the wind was so bad that it knocked out power). But, aside from leaving the house during two of these deluges, it hasn't been too bad. I just had to deal with jeans that were soaked from the knee down.
I went to the Cork Public Museum, which is close to campus, actually. I had been there before -- but it was before the building had reopened...and all we did was look at prehistoric and a few historic potshards and other artefacts and jot down notes so that we could sketch them. This time I went and looked at the history half. And nearly stayed half the day in front of the cabinet with all the artefacts from the Easter Rising and Civil War (or Irish war for independence). Instead I made myself move on & then stared for a while at all the Cork silver. What can I say, I like shiny objects. :)
Yesterday, I learned to do some Irish dances! With a bunch of other international students. There were hardly any Americans there. Instead I got to meet lots of random Europeans. A couple girls from Austria, a lad from Sweden, a couple of Frenchmen, several Italians, and a couple girls from Spain. A group of us went out to a pub afterward. 'Twas fun a fun night all around. And if anyone wants to learn a couple Irish folk dances (or the Highland reel from Scotland, which is loads of fun), well, I can try to teach them to you.
Today was another day of exploring. I started off by staying close to places I knew and then decided to throw caution to the wind and just walk around northern Cork...which is on a big hill, so I got plenty of exercise out of that. And I nearly got myself lost. How lost? Well, in this photo, the big cathedral is basically where I live.
Clearly I was far from the neighborhoods I actually know well. But, in my defense, I thought there would be another road that would take me down to the river from where I was than the one that I knew about -- after consulting the map when I got home, I realised that there really wasn't. Although I was wrong, I got to walk through some fun residential areas.
Tomorrow it's off to Kinsale with the International Education Office -- and even thought I've been there before, it's a free trip. I can't pass up a free trip to one of the prettiest towns near Cork.
It's been raining on and off for the past three or four days. Because a hurricane decided to break apart in this part of the Atlantic. For two days there were downpours -- downpours with lots and lots of wind (in Northern Ireland the wind was so bad that it knocked out power). But, aside from leaving the house during two of these deluges, it hasn't been too bad. I just had to deal with jeans that were soaked from the knee down.
I went to the Cork Public Museum, which is close to campus, actually. I had been there before -- but it was before the building had reopened...and all we did was look at prehistoric and a few historic potshards and other artefacts and jot down notes so that we could sketch them. This time I went and looked at the history half. And nearly stayed half the day in front of the cabinet with all the artefacts from the Easter Rising and Civil War (or Irish war for independence). Instead I made myself move on & then stared for a while at all the Cork silver. What can I say, I like shiny objects. :)
Yesterday, I learned to do some Irish dances! With a bunch of other international students. There were hardly any Americans there. Instead I got to meet lots of random Europeans. A couple girls from Austria, a lad from Sweden, a couple of Frenchmen, several Italians, and a couple girls from Spain. A group of us went out to a pub afterward. 'Twas fun a fun night all around. And if anyone wants to learn a couple Irish folk dances (or the Highland reel from Scotland, which is loads of fun), well, I can try to teach them to you.
Today was another day of exploring. I started off by staying close to places I knew and then decided to throw caution to the wind and just walk around northern Cork...which is on a big hill, so I got plenty of exercise out of that. And I nearly got myself lost. How lost? Well, in this photo, the big cathedral is basically where I live.
Clearly I was far from the neighborhoods I actually know well. But, in my defense, I thought there would be another road that would take me down to the river from where I was than the one that I knew about -- after consulting the map when I got home, I realised that there really wasn't. Although I was wrong, I got to walk through some fun residential areas.
Tomorrow it's off to Kinsale with the International Education Office -- and even thought I've been there before, it's a free trip. I can't pass up a free trip to one of the prettiest towns near Cork.
20 September 2006
I Feel a bit Like a Tour Book....
So...I went to the Butter Museum today. It's a very long walk when it's raining. Even more so when it's windy & rainy. But, that's besides the point, really.
The museum itself was far smaller than I thought it'd be. It was a total of three rooms. One downstairs, which was slightly larger than my apartment (which is fairly normal-sized for Ireland); and two upstairs, which were slightly less than half of the room downstairs.
Downstairs was a look at traditional butter making, complete with a six minute video showing how it was done. There were also many artefacts relating to the various stages of butter making. The other video in this room was about the modern butter industry. The Irish Dairy Board, oversees much of the butter production in Ireland & helped establish the Dairy Science programme at UCC. Yes, you can get a degree in dairy science.
Upstairs is what interested me more: history! In one room they talked about ancient butter making. And how butter has been discovered in bogs: "butter often rancid seasoned with garlic" -- apparently this was either an acquired taste or a ritual, it's unclear which. The other discussed the butter trade in Cork. Apparently most of the world (including the US, South America, Australia, India, etc) got their butter from Cork...until refrigeration forced the Butter Market to lose business and close by the 1930s.
So, was it worth my €2.50? I think so. I mean, I did have the whole museum to myself since it's not tourist season -- & it was raining. But, really, I could've learned most of what the museum had to offer online: http://www.activate.ie/sites/corkcitylib/commercial/cork_butter_museum.htm. Sadly, there were no butter samples, no hands-on activities, no real gift shop either. But, it did make for an interesting afternoon. :)
The museum itself was far smaller than I thought it'd be. It was a total of three rooms. One downstairs, which was slightly larger than my apartment (which is fairly normal-sized for Ireland); and two upstairs, which were slightly less than half of the room downstairs.
Downstairs was a look at traditional butter making, complete with a six minute video showing how it was done. There were also many artefacts relating to the various stages of butter making. The other video in this room was about the modern butter industry. The Irish Dairy Board, oversees much of the butter production in Ireland & helped establish the Dairy Science programme at UCC. Yes, you can get a degree in dairy science.
Upstairs is what interested me more: history! In one room they talked about ancient butter making. And how butter has been discovered in bogs: "butter often rancid seasoned with garlic" -- apparently this was either an acquired taste or a ritual, it's unclear which. The other discussed the butter trade in Cork. Apparently most of the world (including the US, South America, Australia, India, etc) got their butter from Cork...until refrigeration forced the Butter Market to lose business and close by the 1930s.
So, was it worth my €2.50? I think so. I mean, I did have the whole museum to myself since it's not tourist season -- & it was raining. But, really, I could've learned most of what the museum had to offer online: http://www.activate.ie/sites/corkcitylib/commercial/cork_butter_museum.htm. Sadly, there were no butter samples, no hands-on activities, no real gift shop either. But, it did make for an interesting afternoon. :)
19 September 2006
More Cork Churches & Some School Rambles
I didn't get to do as much touristy things as I had hoped to today. But in between the International Education Office's welcome meeting and the tour of campus (which was ridiculously short -- I already knew everything they showed us), I managed to see some things. I finally actually went inside the Tourist Office downtown...after I found it. & as I left there I saw a spire peaking out behind a couple buildings. Thus I went to investigate.
What I found was this tiny church, hidden, really. Half the time I looked up trying to find it, it had disappeared. Thus, I'm sure many people on those streets got a bit of amusement watching me walk up the street, stare at the sky & then walk back down the street. Eventually I managed to find it (after passing up the most direct route, of course). I didn't go inside, though. It looked remodeled and I wasn't even sure if it was a church any more -- there were none of those signs outside that I've come to associate with Irish churches.
Since I had lots of time to kill after that, I decided to actually go inside St Finbarre's. Since, for all I adore that cathedral, I'd never actually been inside. The conclusion is that it's lovely. A bit odd, though, considering there is a huge mixture of late-Victorian to mid-20th century art work inside. Gothic churches with 1930s mosaic and mural work seems a bit odd, but it works -- largely because the basic designs follow the architect's vision.
It was also highly amusing to see men up on one of the spires cleaning the stone. That's one job I could never do. In fact, in this picture you can see them up there on the right-hand side.
Tomorrow it's more touristy things. Including the Butter Museum. I've been convinced. Three friends & the guide book couldn't steer me wrong, could they? (Well, they might...but that's quite besides the point right now.)
Also, found out today that my program won't start until mid-October. Not quite sure what date yet, but the international history masters starts on the 4th & that's considered early for masters programmes (take that one Emily! :P). Now it makes more sense why orientation isn't until 11 Oct., but registration is 28 Sept. Well, not much sense...but a bit.
16 September 2006
My First Irish Rain
Well, it started raining about an hour ago -- but it felt like it was going to rain all afternoon. I'm lucky it didn't start pouring while I was still wandering around the city.
I decided to go someplace I hadn't been when I was here the first time. St Anne's Church, home of the Shandon Bells. It's called "the four faced liar" since the times of the clocks on the bell tower are notoriously out of sync. You can sort of see that in the photo.
The neighborhood around the church was much smaller than I expected -- everything was really close together (with very, very small streets). The church itself was also really small. I guess for a church that makes the guide books, I thought it would be bigger. The church is right by the Butter Museum. Which is, apparently, the main museum of Cork. I'm still trying to decide if that's worth a trip or not. Somehow the history of how butter made Cork an important trading centre doesn't seem all that interesting. But, as I'm going to hit up a bunch of touristy things in the coming week, I just might end up there. In fact, I should go make a list of things I want to see.
First batch of photos (a whole three!) are up on my Shutterfly account (http://kbarry.shutterfly.com) now.
15 September 2006
Travel day = OVER
I'm soo glad to be done traveling. I'm still in that weird "travel-zombie" mode, though, where days seem to blend together...and I have to keep reminding myself that it's actually Friday evening, now.
My two plane rides went very smoothly. I didn't get much sleep, however, on the international flight -- and since I hadn't slept much the night before, well, I was marvelously sleep deprived by the time I got to Dublin. But, I caught up on sleep on the train to Cork...well, maybe an hour's worth...and then I kept trying to unpack when I got the apt., but kept falling asleep. Napping at 5pm seems rather odd to me, but I got a good 2 hrs out of it. And then, today I slept until 2pm. Hopefully that should catch me up...'cause I can't afford to sleep that late again.
I totally rocked at packing my large bag, though -- it weighed in at 49.2 lbs & the limit was 50 lbs. It made me ridiculously happy. I think the guy at the ticket counter was slightly worried about that.
I wasn't as happy, however, when I had to drag it through one airport and two train stations. But, I've found there are some very nice older gentlemen in Ireland who are very happy to help a poor girl struggling with a ton of luggage.
I'm in a two person apt. -- which is nice, esp. as my roommate is also a grad. student. But, I get to hear all the road traffic, since my room is much closer to the road -- I'm on the outside of the courtyard, basically.
My two plane rides went very smoothly. I didn't get much sleep, however, on the international flight -- and since I hadn't slept much the night before, well, I was marvelously sleep deprived by the time I got to Dublin. But, I caught up on sleep on the train to Cork...well, maybe an hour's worth...and then I kept trying to unpack when I got the apt., but kept falling asleep. Napping at 5pm seems rather odd to me, but I got a good 2 hrs out of it. And then, today I slept until 2pm. Hopefully that should catch me up...'cause I can't afford to sleep that late again.
I totally rocked at packing my large bag, though -- it weighed in at 49.2 lbs & the limit was 50 lbs. It made me ridiculously happy. I think the guy at the ticket counter was slightly worried about that.
I wasn't as happy, however, when I had to drag it through one airport and two train stations. But, I've found there are some very nice older gentlemen in Ireland who are very happy to help a poor girl struggling with a ton of luggage.
I'm in a two person apt. -- which is nice, esp. as my roommate is also a grad. student. But, I get to hear all the road traffic, since my room is much closer to the road -- I'm on the outside of the courtyard, basically.
12 September 2006
Travel Day Eve!
Tomorrow...(eek!)...I will be almost in Ireland. By the 14th (8am central time, anyway) I'll be in Cork. In fact, I'll be here then:
A bit frightening, really. But, oh well. I'll live, I'm sure. :P
Packing/cleaning, however, is about to kill me. I'm so sick of it all. And I'm rather afraid of how much I need shipped. Apparently my packing skills are worse than I thought they'd be.
At this point, traveling is going to be the least stressful part of the whole thing. And, since I'm usually pretty stressed about making connections and getting to the airport super early, that's really saying something. (But, since I practically grew up in DFW airport, getting there early has been always been a top priority for me.)
And since I'm sure you are all extremely interested in my travel itinerary...here it is. :P
Flying to Chicago at 3, then a couple hour layover at O'Hare (woo?) and 7:30pm it's time for the long 7 hour flight to Dublin, where I land at 9am Dublin time. Then I get to take a train down to Cork...where I'll be around 2pm (which would be 8am central time).
And then I get to go buy food and sheets and all that fun stuff. Such excitement?
But some actually exciting news is that my phone will work over there! Sure it costs a lot per minute, but that's beside the point.
A bit frightening, really. But, oh well. I'll live, I'm sure. :P
Packing/cleaning, however, is about to kill me. I'm so sick of it all. And I'm rather afraid of how much I need shipped. Apparently my packing skills are worse than I thought they'd be.
At this point, traveling is going to be the least stressful part of the whole thing. And, since I'm usually pretty stressed about making connections and getting to the airport super early, that's really saying something. (But, since I practically grew up in DFW airport, getting there early has been always been a top priority for me.)
And since I'm sure you are all extremely interested in my travel itinerary...here it is. :P
Flying to Chicago at 3, then a couple hour layover at O'Hare (woo?) and 7:30pm it's time for the long 7 hour flight to Dublin, where I land at 9am Dublin time. Then I get to take a train down to Cork...where I'll be around 2pm (which would be 8am central time).
And then I get to go buy food and sheets and all that fun stuff. Such excitement?
But some actually exciting news is that my phone will work over there! Sure it costs a lot per minute, but that's beside the point.
10 September 2006
Down to the Wire...& Some Sports Rambles
So. I don't have much time left. 3 1/2 days. Omg.
And to think, I blew off packing today to go shopping with Mom. But as I tend to get most of my work done under pressure, I doubt this will change much of anything. Chances are very high that my last night in Tx will be spent in a flurry of packing.
I'm not really freaking out all that much, though. I think I had my big "freak out" moment when I was at Trinity. Now everything just seems surreal.
Sad day in sports...well, mostly football: UT, Trinity...still waiting on the Rangers score--they're in extra innings. Maybe the Rangers will actually pull out a win? A girl can always hope.
And extra sad for Cork hurling. The match was on the 3rd, but I just realised & checked the score--sadly the Cork Rebels lost to the Kilkenny Cats. Alas.
And to think, I blew off packing today to go shopping with Mom. But as I tend to get most of my work done under pressure, I doubt this will change much of anything. Chances are very high that my last night in Tx will be spent in a flurry of packing.
I'm not really freaking out all that much, though. I think I had my big "freak out" moment when I was at Trinity. Now everything just seems surreal.
Sad day in sports...well, mostly football: UT, Trinity...still waiting on the Rangers score--they're in extra innings. Maybe the Rangers will actually pull out a win? A girl can always hope.
And extra sad for Cork hurling. The match was on the 3rd, but I just realised & checked the score--sadly the Cork Rebels lost to the Kilkenny Cats. Alas.
05 September 2006
So Much to Do...So Little Time
Down to the last week, now. So I'm busy packing up my life. Literally.
Space saver bags are my best friends right now.
I'm also busying hitting up all the restaurants I'm going to miss -- and all the foods I won't be able to find over there. I had chicken fried steak today and just have to eat BBQ (at Spring Creek, because I'm slightly addicted to their chopped beef sandwiches) & Tex-Mex another time (or two, knowing my family). Oh -- and ice cream at Beth Marie's! Every day it seems my list of places to go eat gets longer.
Space saver bags are my best friends right now.
I'm also busying hitting up all the restaurants I'm going to miss -- and all the foods I won't be able to find over there. I had chicken fried steak today and just have to eat BBQ (at Spring Creek, because I'm slightly addicted to their chopped beef sandwiches) & Tex-Mex another time (or two, knowing my family). Oh -- and ice cream at Beth Marie's! Every day it seems my list of places to go eat gets longer.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)