I'm updating Saturday night, rather than Sunday. 'Cause, why not?
-I have a new roommate! That happened very fast. Julie put an ad online on Thursday morning, listing my number as she left later that day for her two-week vacation to Florida. I got three phone calls on Thursday and one on Friday from people wanting to see the place! One girl came by Thursday night, and one guy came by Friday afternoon, and the other two never showed even though I invited them to come see the place. Julie had expressed a preference for a male roommate, but I wasn't going to let that be the deciding factor-- I really did like the girl that saw the place. But she was concerned about parking (there is only one spot, and it's Julie's) and wasn't sure when she could move in. The guy, Mathias, loved the place-- when he saw the room, he exclaimed "It's huge!" (In my head, I thought "Really?" Because it's, by far, the smallest room-- mine is significantly bigger, and has about four times the storage space. Julie's is bigger yet, and she has a huge closet. But I wasn't about to point that out.) Mhairi moved out today, and he was available to move in today, and was able to pay the deposit right away. So, new roomie! Mathias is German, probably in his late 20's, and works at a software company in Galway. He is very friendly and kind of nerdy. I think we'll get along fine.
-In the past week, I received my travel bursary AND got paid for invigilating! Finally. So, next week, I am going to Dublin for research. I am taking the train down Monday afternoon, staying in a hostel for three or four nights, and I'll be spending my days at the National Library of Ireland reading hundred-year-old plays. I'm quite excited to be getting on with original research. And, also, to spend time in Dublin. The hostel where I'm staying, Avalon House, looks very nice and comes highly recommended by my friend Meredith. I'm even hoping to do a little shopping while I'm there. I really do love Dublin. Even though I only lived there for not-quite-three months, I really felt a connection to the city that I haven't felt in many places-- certainly no other major urban centers.
-Also in the past week, I said goodbye to my friends Meredith and Beth, both of whom moved back to the 'States. I miss them already-- our little group, "the girls," isn't the same with just the three of us. Still, I have high hopes and half-baked plans to visit Meredith in Brooklyn sometime in the not-so-distant future. Beth lives in Minnesota, and I don't care so much to visit a state that is like Michigan only colder, but maybe we can meet up sometime in Chicago.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Easy come, easy go
It is officially summer. And yesterday was overcast and rainy and autumnal all day long, and today it's sunnier but I'm still wearing a sweater. Ah, Ireland.
Two of my friends-- Beth and Meredith-- are leaving this week. Meredith, originally from Boston, figured out that all the books she needs to finish writing her thesis are at the Boston College library. She also has a good job and a good boyfriend waiting back in the 'States, so she'll be moving back and submitting her thesis through the mail. Beth, on the other hand, is just plain insane-- she is done with the first draft of her thesis! She just needs to revise it. (Just so you know, I am considered to be ahead of the game because I have one chapter [out of about five] finished.) She is eager to get back to her family and find a job, so she'll be heading back to Minnesota.
Because of this, the last week and a half has been full of socializing. We've been going out a lot and just generally spending a lot of time with "the girls"-- Jenn, Meg, Meredith, Beth, and myself. Last night, I hosted a dinner party! It was quite lovely, just us sitting around the table drinking wine and eating delicious food. (I made my favorite pasta dish, Meredith made some amazing teriyaki chicken, Jenn brought mashed potatoes, and Beth brought chocolate pudding. Yum.) I really am a good cook, and it's nice to be able to cook for other people sometimes.
Today, we had a big "swap meet," as I called it. Meredith brought over a few bags of clothes to Beth's house, where Beth had large piles of her own, to give away. Both of them have more things than space in their suitcases, and are planning on giving a lot of things to charity shops, but they gave us first pick. I scored three large shopping bags full of things like clothing and office supplies and bread pans. Nice.
The leaving-town bug must be contagious, because I found out yesterday that Mhairi1 is moving out! She has some family issues going on back in Australia, so she's leaving to be with them on July 1. (So we're now looking for another roomie. Anyone know someone who needs a place to live in Galway?) Julie will be gone for the next two and a half weeks, too-- she'll be traveling for work this week, and then on Thursday she's going to the 'States for two weeks to visit her fiancé. It will be rather nice to have the place to myself, I'm not going to lie... but I'll also have to take calls and (hopefully!) applicants to look at the place. And I'll (hopefully!) be busy working on my thesis. Ah, life.
As much as I miss my family, it is nice to know that I have a place to live and a life laid out in front of me for the next four years. I really do love adventure and travel, but I also definitely crave that sort of stability.
1: My third roommate was originally introduced to me as "Mary." I'm not sure if that's a nickname version of her name or what, but she goes by Mhairi, which I saw on an envelope for her once. It sounds like "varry," rhyming with "starry."
Two of my friends-- Beth and Meredith-- are leaving this week. Meredith, originally from Boston, figured out that all the books she needs to finish writing her thesis are at the Boston College library. She also has a good job and a good boyfriend waiting back in the 'States, so she'll be moving back and submitting her thesis through the mail. Beth, on the other hand, is just plain insane-- she is done with the first draft of her thesis! She just needs to revise it. (Just so you know, I am considered to be ahead of the game because I have one chapter [out of about five] finished.) She is eager to get back to her family and find a job, so she'll be heading back to Minnesota.
Because of this, the last week and a half has been full of socializing. We've been going out a lot and just generally spending a lot of time with "the girls"-- Jenn, Meg, Meredith, Beth, and myself. Last night, I hosted a dinner party! It was quite lovely, just us sitting around the table drinking wine and eating delicious food. (I made my favorite pasta dish, Meredith made some amazing teriyaki chicken, Jenn brought mashed potatoes, and Beth brought chocolate pudding. Yum.) I really am a good cook, and it's nice to be able to cook for other people sometimes.
Today, we had a big "swap meet," as I called it. Meredith brought over a few bags of clothes to Beth's house, where Beth had large piles of her own, to give away. Both of them have more things than space in their suitcases, and are planning on giving a lot of things to charity shops, but they gave us first pick. I scored three large shopping bags full of things like clothing and office supplies and bread pans. Nice.
The leaving-town bug must be contagious, because I found out yesterday that Mhairi1 is moving out! She has some family issues going on back in Australia, so she's leaving to be with them on July 1. (So we're now looking for another roomie. Anyone know someone who needs a place to live in Galway?) Julie will be gone for the next two and a half weeks, too-- she'll be traveling for work this week, and then on Thursday she's going to the 'States for two weeks to visit her fiancé. It will be rather nice to have the place to myself, I'm not going to lie... but I'll also have to take calls and (hopefully!) applicants to look at the place. And I'll (hopefully!) be busy working on my thesis. Ah, life.
As much as I miss my family, it is nice to know that I have a place to live and a life laid out in front of me for the next four years. I really do love adventure and travel, but I also definitely crave that sort of stability.
1: My third roommate was originally introduced to me as "Mary." I'm not sure if that's a nickname version of her name or what, but she goes by Mhairi, which I saw on an envelope for her once. It sounds like "varry," rhyming with "starry."
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Happy father's day!
Instead of a card, I decided to make a little video to express father's day wishes for my dad. Because I'm both creative and cheap.
Right now, my family is having a bit of a barbecue. Lots of my extended family is all gathered together eating grilled food, and I miss them.
(Really, twice a year is not often enough to see one's family.)
Right now, my family is having a bit of a barbecue. Lots of my extended family is all gathered together eating grilled food, and I miss them.
(Really, twice a year is not often enough to see one's family.)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
from a sunny Sunday in Galway
You know, even though it is generally a bit annoying to have a washing machine but not a dryer, there is something about the sight of clean sheets hanging on a line in the sunshine and blowing in the wind that makes me feel happy and summery and domestic.
In other news...
This week, I finished the first (draft of the first) chapter of my MA thesis! Yay! It's twenty-two pages long, 5,600 words, and as such is about a quarter of the required length. You know, 20,000 words sounded like a lot, but if I can write 25% of that without doing any original research, I have a feeling it will go by pretty quickly.
Anyway, it's more or less a literature review. I read about nine or ten books that are either directly or indirectly related to my topic and then wrote reviews of them, focusing on how they would be useful to me and pointing out areas where research hasn't been done-- basically, finding blanks for me to fill in.
Now, I can't really do any more for the thesis until I can go to Dublin for research. There are four Whitbread manuscripts at the National Library of Ireland, so I'll need to go there and read them, taking extensive notes. To do that, I will need to either get the money I applied for in my travel bursary or get paid for invigilating, so I can afford to spend five days in Dublin! Nessa gave me train tickets already-- apparently the Centre for Irish Studies has a stack of Galway-Dublin train tickets on hand for students who need to go there for research! So that is €30 saved already, but I still need funding for hostels and food.
It's cool, though, that the school will pay for me to do things like that. I mentioned to my adviser, Dr. Lionel Pilkington, that there are nine more Whitbread manuscripts at the British Library, but that I doubted I could get funding for two weeks in London for a MA project. He said "Well, you'll be doing plenty of that next year!" Awesome.
Oh, and if you like absurdism and dark humor, check out Blackpool. It's a BBC miniseries, withthe Doctor David Tennant. I watched the first episode last night and I'm hooked.
In other news...
This week, I finished the first (draft of the first) chapter of my MA thesis! Yay! It's twenty-two pages long, 5,600 words, and as such is about a quarter of the required length. You know, 20,000 words sounded like a lot, but if I can write 25% of that without doing any original research, I have a feeling it will go by pretty quickly.
Anyway, it's more or less a literature review. I read about nine or ten books that are either directly or indirectly related to my topic and then wrote reviews of them, focusing on how they would be useful to me and pointing out areas where research hasn't been done-- basically, finding blanks for me to fill in.
Now, I can't really do any more for the thesis until I can go to Dublin for research. There are four Whitbread manuscripts at the National Library of Ireland, so I'll need to go there and read them, taking extensive notes. To do that, I will need to either get the money I applied for in my travel bursary or get paid for invigilating, so I can afford to spend five days in Dublin! Nessa gave me train tickets already-- apparently the Centre for Irish Studies has a stack of Galway-Dublin train tickets on hand for students who need to go there for research! So that is €30 saved already, but I still need funding for hostels and food.
It's cool, though, that the school will pay for me to do things like that. I mentioned to my adviser, Dr. Lionel Pilkington, that there are nine more Whitbread manuscripts at the British Library, but that I doubted I could get funding for two weeks in London for a MA project. He said "Well, you'll be doing plenty of that next year!" Awesome.
Oh, and if you like absurdism and dark humor, check out Blackpool. It's a BBC miniseries, with
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
This Tuesday morning, coming at you LIVE from the James L. Hardiman library!
Am I a bad female scholar, in that I'm not particularly interested in feminist criticism? Seriously, being both a woman and literary scholar, I sometimes feel like I'm almost expected to be fixated on the representation of women in whatever text I'm looking at. But I really, honestly, don't care... not that I don't think it's an important area, just that it's not my thing. That and it's really been done to death. Postcolonial theory, that's where it's at.
(NB: Remember I don't mean any sort of political1 meaning of the word "feminist." In literary criticism, it simply means "looking at the way women are represented.")
1: That is, insofar as anything to do with literature can be apolitical.
(NB: Remember I don't mean any sort of political1 meaning of the word "feminist." In literary criticism, it simply means "looking at the way women are represented.")
1: That is, insofar as anything to do with literature can be apolitical.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
workin' hard (and/or hardly working)
We have a new roommate! A lovely young lady named Mary has moved in. She's from Australia and is a friend of Julia's, and she's really nice. Also, she has five tattoos... so now there are three dark-haired tattooed women living at 6 Earls Island.
This week has been almost entirely devoted to working on the first chapter of my thesis. With the exception of seeing the new Indiana Jones film on Tuesday, going out dancing on Thursday night, and spending much of Saturday reading for enjoyment and watching old episodes of Doctor Who (hey, I have to get something out of the weekend), I have spent most of the week at the library, reading and writing. (I have about 13 or 14 pages so far, and the chapter is about half done, I'd say.)
Today, it was gorgeous outside, hot and sunny, so for most of the early afternoon Julie and I laid out in the garden in our bathing suits, enjoying the sunshine. I took the time to work on my thesis some more, bringing my laptop outside. (And I discovered that the wireless signal is just as strong out there as it is in my room!) After getting too hot, I went and sat at Java's for a couple hours, where I got a pot of tea and worked on my thesis a bit more.
Things learned today:
-Stephen Watt is one of the best critical writers on Irish melodrama.
-My favorite black tea is Assam.
This week has been almost entirely devoted to working on the first chapter of my thesis. With the exception of seeing the new Indiana Jones film on Tuesday, going out dancing on Thursday night, and spending much of Saturday reading for enjoyment and watching old episodes of Doctor Who (hey, I have to get something out of the weekend), I have spent most of the week at the library, reading and writing. (I have about 13 or 14 pages so far, and the chapter is about half done, I'd say.)
Today, it was gorgeous outside, hot and sunny, so for most of the early afternoon Julie and I laid out in the garden in our bathing suits, enjoying the sunshine. I took the time to work on my thesis some more, bringing my laptop outside. (And I discovered that the wireless signal is just as strong out there as it is in my room!) After getting too hot, I went and sat at Java's for a couple hours, where I got a pot of tea and worked on my thesis a bit more.
Things learned today:
-Stephen Watt is one of the best critical writers on Irish melodrama.
-My favorite black tea is Assam.
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