It's almost Christmas!

Taking a quick break from paper-writing to update... I am flying back to the 'States on Saturday for winter break! I'm really excited to get home for a bit (though not so much about the prospect of facing snow), but right now it's more stressful than anything. I have been quite busy lately-- "so what else is new?" you ask-- with rushing around trying to finish up my current chapter before I leave on Saturday. Last week, also, was largely taken up with academic schmoozing.


My PhD is part of a larger project, called "Globalisation, Empire & Culture." There are three PhDs-- Sean, James, and myself-- and one post-doc-- Fiona-- in this project, which is headed by Lionel, who is also my direct supervisor. Anyway, the project got a big grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, which has given us a lot more opportunities for travel and reseach than we'd have otherwise. Part of that grant, though, went to funding a workshop/seminar week, where two professors from other universities came to give talks and workshop papers with us. The two profs, Dr. Hilmes and Dr. Putnis, were very cool and immediately insisted on being called Michelle and Peter. The talks and the workshop were very good, but they also took up most of my week.

Of course, another essential part of any academic meetup like this is the food. On Monday, we had an introductory lunch, where we all ate at the nicest campus restaurant. Thursday night, after Michelle's second talk, I got invited to dinner with Peter, Michelle, James, and (James's supervisor) Simon. We went to one of the nicer (and most expensive!) restaurants in Galway. Friday night, after out workshop, all of us went first to a pub for a couple drinks, then to another really nice restaurant, and finally to a fancy hotel bar for a glass of brandy.

Ah, the glamourous life of a graduate student. They don't let us out of the basement often, but we do get out, it's all fancy parties and rich food and brandy.


Ok, back to the Word-document grindstone. (My friend Cooper, who is a math PhD, says "Back to the math mines." But there's really no equivalent for a humanities-literature-theatre-history person, is there? Back to the theatre history mines? Doesn't work so well.)

Guest Blogger: Jim Markus

Visiting Ayla has been as much a delight as I had hoped. My second vacation to Ireland this year has included a trip to Dublin, the book of Kells, Grafton street, the Galway market (twice!), and an American Irish British Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner Extravaganza (AIBTTDE).

Even though it is only my second visit to the emerald isle, I already feel like I understand the ways and means of travel here. Buses run late because of flooding. Trains offer to book specific seats, but nobody cares where they sit. The tram in Dublin overflows with humans before and after Rugby games.

Everyone has been remarkably gregarious. The Galway accent make words like "slab" sound like "schlahb" and at least one Irish boy says "tree" instead of "three". Ayla assures me this is more of an "East-Midlands" pronunciation, but I think it should be universal. Also, I will be ordering Schlahbs of Tahrt with Teh whenever I can.

Until next time, I bid you good health and comfortable prosperity.


------------
Jim Markus is a traveling writer, student, and business consultant from Chicago, Illinois. He can normally be found behind a chess set, though he insists that he has never actually played before.

The Craic in the 'Frack

Hey! Did you know I live in Ireland? I totally do! Sometimes I forget that.

Ok, not really forget, but my normal everyday life is so mundane that it's hard to imagine that I'm having a Foreign Experience Abroad. I might be making my morning toast with a different brand of bread than I would back home, but the big picture of my life is no different from any grant-funded humanities grad student anywhere.

But, when I went away to Letterfrack for the weekend with the orchestra, I got a big old reminder that I actually do live in a different country.

So, pictures! (Click to embiggen.)

First, the town of Letterfrack and surrounding Connemara environs.



(A different mountain than the picture above! Connemara is full of mountains.)


Road signs, in Letterfrack's only crossroads.









And pictures of the Coolest Hostel Ever.

Entrance to the hostel driveway.


I didn't get nearly as many pictures of the place as I wanted, but this will give you an idea. Yes, it's in an old monastery. Yes, that's a broken piano outside the front door.


Outside wall, hung with sheep skulls. There were sheep skulls and bones all over the place, sitting on shelves and cabinets and in corners. At least, we hoped they were from sheep.


Stairway in the hostel. The flash kind of washed it out, but note the broken mandolin, bugle, artist's model, stuffed weasel (marten? mink? something like that), antlers, and antique ceremonial-looking robe of some sort. This is pretty representative of the decor all over.


Breakfast nook, next door to our room.

I took these next two on the car ride home: Connemara, aka the Misty Mountains.



A bog and mountains whose tops are obscured by mist. Yep, must be Ireland.


Finally: this poster was hanging in the hostel kitchen. I think it says everything you need to know about the place.

BOG WEEK '09.

for when your life is just not epic enough

I am really busy these days, trying to finish a chapter in the next two-ish weeks. An important part of keeping focused while writing, I've found, is the proper music. I need music that will cover up any distracting sounds in the room while at the same time not being too distracting itself. For this purpose, I have found movie and tv soundtracks to really work. They are typically instrumental, so no distracting lyrics, but engaging enough to not get boring. The Doctor Who soundtracks, the Lord of the Rings soundtracks, or anything by Danny Elfman all are good choices.

My favorite for writing, though, is the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack! I find it to be incredibly inspirational. It makes even the most mundane activities feel absolutely epic.

That music always reminds me that, no matter what you're doing, do it with confidence and style. Even if what you're doing is sailing into port on a sinking dinghy.

This is apparently a pretty timely post, actually... I guess Johnny Depp just got voted Sexiest Man Alive for the second time. I definitely agree, and have thought this for years. I've really thought this since I was eight years old, though I might not have used the word "sexy" back then.

no rest for the wicked, eh?

Busy, busy, busy! Rush rush rush!

The visit from my beautiful and talented mother and sister was fantastic. We saw the sights in Galway, did some shopping, spent a couple days in Dublin, and ate at lots of delicious restaurants. I didn't take a single picture, because they had their cameras out constantly, but believe me when I say we had lots of fun.

This weekend, I am off to Letterfrack, a little town in Connemara about an hourish west of Galway. I'm going with the NUI Galway Orchestra-- we're going off for a weekend of practicing and drinking bonding, since we have a couple concerts coming up. I will bring my camera to that, though I'm not sure if I'll get many photo ops. We're leaving tonight after dark (7pm) and spending all day tomorrow practicing, so I doubt I'll have much chance to take pictures of the rugged Connemara landscape. Still, should be a good time! It's always fun to hang out with the orchestra.

fambly!

My mother and sister are visiting me... tomorrow! Wow, that came up fast! I am meeting them at the airport in twelve hours!

I'm super-excited, of course. Today has been a flurry of finishing up all the loose ends I needed to take care of before I could take a week off. Tentative itinerary includes visiting the Market on Saturday and going to Dublin for Sunday and Monday, as well as a possible day tour somewhere. I'm also taking Hanna out on Friday night, though she doesn't know it yet. This visit is going to be great... Mom has been over here three times, this will be her fourth visit, but Hanna never has! And, hanging out with your 22-year-old sister is slightly different from hanging out with your 61-year-old mother, though honestly not as different as you might think.


Anyway, I better get to bed, it's late and I have a full day of HANGING OUT WITH MY MOM AND SISTER to do tomorrow!

Contrary to popular belief, I am not in fact a Ghostbuster.

I had high hopes for today, high hopes indeed. I was going to do laundry, work on a paper, clean-- in short, actually be productive on a Sunday for once. Instead, I talked to my mom on the phone, talked to Jim online, and watched Ghostbusters. Oops. (Well, theoretically, I could still work on the paper. But it's too late now for the laundry at least.)


Last night, there was a small Hallowe'en parade down Shop Street, the pedestrianized shopping area in the city centre. The parade wasn't very long, or very good-- a stiltwalker, some weird giant puppet things, and a band in costumes-- but after the parade there was a very cool fire show! The show was put on in the churchyard at the medieval church, which was incredibly cool in itself... the place has a spooky atmosphere even in bright sunlight. To watch the show, spectators had to stand around on the other side of a tall spiky wrought iron fence, which just added to the effect. Also the fact that it was hosted by a church made me happy-- there are lots of church groups in the U.S. that condemn Hallowe'en for being evil, instead of embracing it for being cool!

So what do I mean by "fire show"? First, there were pyrotechnics-- lots of flares and roman candles going off in choreographed sequences. There was a large metal tree, with curling branches, that stood mysteriously off to the side. There were fire belly dancers-- three ladies with metal fans that had flames along the edge. There were a couple guys who juggled flaming torches. There were four people spinning poi with flames. They each put on an individual show, then all came out at the same time. At one point, roman candles went off from the church roof. As the finale started, the metal tree suddenly erupted into flames, looking like a huge burning tree in the churchyard, as the performers danced and juggled and tossed fire around. At the very end, there were fireworks. It was cool.

Afterward, I went back to Jenn's apartment, where we were joined by our friend Jason, to watch The Exorcist, drink wine, and eat chocolate. Overall, a good way to spend Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en!

I am up way, way too late. 'Cause why? 'Cause I was carving pumpkins, that's why!

Every year, my tradition is to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas as I carve my pumpkins. It might technically count as a Christmas movie, but this song always gets me super-excited for Halloween:

This year, I had two pumpkins to carve-- one was purchased for my friend Bri, but she hasn't had the time to come carve it, so I went ahead and did it myself. So, the fruits of my labors! (Click to embiggen... and apologies for the poor quality of the photos, my camera's batteries are dead so I had to use the laptop's built-in webcam.)

XD


A Clockwork Pumpkin!

I had a hard time getting a shot that showed the eyelash things. But I figured I had to do this, because after all I do own a bowler hat.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have two pumpkins' worth of roasted pumpkin seeds to eat. Which is of course the best part of the whole carving experience.

Today is what is known as a "Bank Holiday," and consequently I am the only person in the postgrad study room! In the U.S., we make up fake half-assed excuses for holidays, like "President's Day" and "Columbus Day," where the banks and post offices close but pretty much everyone else has to go to work. In the U.K. and Ireland, they dispense with the pretense and just declare a Bank Holiday every couple of months.

So anyway, today is October Bank Holiday Monday and therefore no one is on campus. It feels strange and deserted. Of course, I am on campus, because I have a big paper to write this week. It's important that I get a lot of work done this week, because next week...

MY MOM AND SISTER ARE COMING TO VISIT!

More on that later, I'm sure. ^_^


In other news: in the past week, I have twice set out to make something without a recipe and twice succeeded in creating a hella-delicious meal. On Tuesday or Wednesday, I decided I wanted salmon cakes. I half-remembered watching a couple of different people make them, and rather than try to track them down for recipes I just decided to wing it. And they turned out great! Not perfect-- I fried them a little too hot, and the browned parts were tough-- but still delicious.

Then, Saturday night, I made homemade bean-and-bacon soup. About a year ago I found a recipe for bean-and-bacon soup that purported to taste like the Campbell's variety. Campbell's bean-and-bacon soup has been my favorite food since I was a wee little child, and they don't have it here. So, I couldn't find the recipe I had used before, and I decided to just wing it-- I remembered the important parts, like the tomato paste. And it turned out even better than when I used a recipe! Though, as is often the case when not following instructions, I just kept throwing more stuff in the pot and ended up with way more soup than I planned on making. This isn't a bad, thing, though.

Weather? Damn near killed 'er!

Ireland has what is known as an "oceanic climate," temperate and with very few extremes. This is quite different from Michigan, which is quite extreme, temperature-wise-- well below freezing all winter, above 80° F most of the summer. Ireland, on the other hand, rarely gets down to freezing at all. I can count the number of times I've seen snow here in the last two years on one hand. And even then, it has always melted away by the end of the day. Of course, it also rarely gets above 70° F in the summer; I can also count the number of times I've worn shorts or short skirts in this country on one hand.

This is both the feature I love and hate the most about living in Ireland. My wardrobe year-round has very little variation, which gets rather monotonous. All summer, I miss the hot Michigan weather... I would much rather be too hot than too cold, and where I grew up I could just drive down to the beach any time I felt like it. Even when I was in college, I could either run down to the athletic center and use the pool, or drive up to Lake Lansing and take a swim there. Of course, all winter I love it here, because I don't have to deal with the horrible bitter cold. I never, ever miss the snow. I would be perfectly happy to have a completely green Christmas and never see the stuff at all. (Jim once described me as being "allergic to snow.")


As of this month, Ireland has finally swung into the time of year when I'm happier with the weather here and not jealous of my friends and family in Michigan. Galway has been almost unseasonably warm for the last two weeks-- on Wednesday this week, it was probably around 65° F! Today it is a little colder and rainy, but altogether it has been a very dry autumn, with only a few really rainy days.

Autumn used to make me feel a little depressed, because it meant that summer was dying away and that winter was creeping in. Here, I don't mind it so much, because even though winter is creeping in, that isn't so bad! I feel like I can enjoy the smell of fall leaves and the fresh produce, apples and pumpkins, much more in Ireland because I know they aren't harbingers of snow. Just more rain, which I can deal with.

...

Other than enjoying the nice weather, I have been very busy. Mostly, with doctoral stuff-- I have to write a chapter of my thesis by Christmas, so that is eating up most of my time right now. Also, I have a 5,000 word paper due November 2. Which I haven't started. And, to top this off, I have had a surprisingly busy social life as well! I have had dinner with friends five times in the last two weeks. Last night, my friend Bri had a housewarming party, which ended up being fairly small but also fairly convivial, because everyone who attended brought both wine and food. And for some reason, most people brought some type of Cabernet and some type of dip, myself included! Which, really, is everything a housewarming party needs.

on beer and music, not in that order (in which our heroine drinks beer she doesn't like)

I didn't post last weekend, did I? Oops. Well, I didn't do much last week. Since getting back from Canada, I have mostly been working a lot. I need to write the first chapter of my thesis by Christmas! Scary! And Lionel wants the first ten-or-so pages by October 23. I spent a year reading and researching, and still I don't feel prepared to actually start writing the thing... eesh...


Other than that-- which really takes up a lot of my time, even though it doesn't make for a very interesting story-- the only 'blog-worthy thing that has happened lately was last night. My friend Jenn called me up and offered me a free ticket to "an outdoor concert" in Galway for Saturday night, somewhere "down at the docks." I had not seen one piece of advertising or heard one word about this, but I agreed, because hey-- free concert! So I went along with Jenn, her boyfriend Brian, and our friend Brianne.

It turns out that the "free concert" was the Coors Light Peak music event. Like I said, I hadn't seen any advertising for this thing, so I had no idea what was going on or what to expect. I kind of vaguely imagined a small crowd and a small platform for a couple performers. It turned out to be a huge extravaganza-- a "music event," as they called it. There were dance bands, and rock bands, and at one point a drum line standing along the walls of the stage area! There was a pretty good-size crowd, as well, with lots of people dancing. The show itself took place by the harbor, with a serious outdoor stage set up. I was surprised by the location of the concert, but the signs all said that they were playing "in the heart of shipyards and ports across 5 cities." (The other cities being Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and Dublin.)

It's actually a pretty genius marketing idea on the part of Coors Light. Get smaller bands that will play for cheap or free, just to get exposure. Play in outdoor areas that don't typically host concerts. Give away free tickets... and then only sell Coors Light to the attendees. The drinks were €5 apiece, which isn't that much more than you'd pay in a pub, but also enough that I'm sure they made a huge profit.

Of course, I don't actually like Coors Light. I bought one, just to have something to sip on during the show, but it tasted like watery pee. Then when I had about 1/3 of the pint left, Brian went and bought us all another round. I appreciated the gesture, but I also didn't want another one! So I finished the first drink quickly, which gave me a stomachache. I never finished the second pint. I'm not a beer snob, really-- I just don't like beer that tastes bad. And I happen to think that most lagers and pilsners, especially the big brands, taste bad. I'll stick with my ales and porters, thank you!

On the Saint Mary's University "Queering Ireland" conference

... and here I am, floating around yet another strange city. Story of my life these days, it seems. I just got in to Ottawa-- my flight from Halifax was so early it bordered on red-eye. The flight was at 06:40am, so I had to leave the hotel at 04:30. And since last night was the final night of the conference, everyone was dragged out to a bar, so I really only got about two hours of sleep. All I want to do now is nap and shower, not necessarily in that order, but the hotel check-in isn't until 3pm. And it's 8:30am right now. They let me stow my suitcase, though, and right now I'm having coffee in the hotel restaurant. I might take a walk around town and get my bearings, maybe do a bit of shopping-- I want a new coat, and I feel like Canada is a good place for coat-buying.


So my combination jetlag-sleep deprivation aside, it's been a fantastic weekend so far. The conference was brilliant, in both the American understanding of the word and the British-Irish colloquial sense. Great papers, great talks, and an overall great group. It was small enough that we were able to really get a dialogue going, and rather than being like lectures the talks ended up being more of a conversation most of the time. A conversation that was continued at the bar in the evening. The whole tone of the thing was very informal and friendly; I originally brought a suit to wear for my talk, but then after seeing that the other conference participants were overwhelmingly in jeans, I went for a much more casual outfit. At first I was rather intimidated, because after all I'm just a lowly unpublished graduate student and maybe 75% of the people at the conference were professors who have books and monographs and journal articles all over the place. But everyone was very friendly and supportive, and there wasn't any distinction made between the Doctors and non-Doctors. So, overall, it was an incredibly positive experience.

I also got to drink some truly excellent dirty martinis and sleep in the most comfortable bed I've ever encountered, so that was pretty nice too. The only regret I have is not really being able to see Halifax-- I got in late Thursday night, spent all day Friday and Saturday at talks, and then left early Sunday morning. What I glimpsed of the town seemed very cool, so I definitely have to come back some day, maybe even for a proper vacation!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Galway is in the grips of its semiannual week of nice weather right now! This means that it is sunny and in the high 60s-low 70s. Yesterday, I went to the beach with friends Jenn, Bri, and Jason and sat in the sunshine for about four hours. I wore a knee-length skirt and short-sleeved top, while Bri and Jenn actually wore bathing suit tops-- I thought it was too cold for bathing suits, but here you have to take advantage of any teeny bit of sunshine. Today it's supposed to be equally nice, though I have lots of work to do. (Especially since I spent yesterday sitting around the beach.) So, in order to enjoy the nice weather but also work, I am sitting outside a cafe with my laptop and books. It's a good compromise.

So why do I have so much work to do? Because I am going to a conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, this week! Not only am I attending, but I am also presenting a paper. It's a serious, big-deal sort of a conference and I am actually pretty nervous about the whole thing. And after the conference, I am flying to Ottawa to do a couple days of research at the Library and Archives Canada, which is like the Canadian Library of Congress. It's all very exciting... though it's going to be a pretty darn busy week. My itinerary is as follows:

-Wednesday 16 September: I take a bus to Dublin and spend the night at the airport Days Hotel.
-Thursday 17 Sept: I fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by way of Newark. (I have a five-hour layover in Newark, which is just annoying. If it were much longer, I could leave and maybe go get a bite to eat in Brooklyn or Manhattan with one of my friends that lives there. But 5 hours is too short to leave, but too long to easily kill with going through Customs and security. Oh well.)
-Friday & Saturday, 18-19 Sept: Conference! Haven't gotten the programs yet, so I don't know what day I'm giving the talk, but it will probably be Saturday afternoon.
-Sunday 20 Sept: I fly from Halifax to Ottawa. I am staying in a hotel in Ottawa, not a hostel, because I honestly didn't want to go on a research trip so soon anyway. Lionel talked me into it, and I decided that having my own room and bathroom would make the prospect much more palatable.
-Monday & Tuesday, 21-22 Sept: Research at the Library & Archives Canada. I'm just going to be sussing out their collection, seeing if they have much that can be of use to me, and making contacts. Then I can decide if I'll need to go back later for more in-depth research. I still don't want to do this right now, but I admit that the nerd in me is excited to see a national archive. My hotel is like five minutes away from the Canadian parliament and supreme court and all that stuff-- basically where I am staying is the Canadian equivalent of Capitol Hill. Neat!
-Wednesday 23 Sept: I fly back to Ireland. I'm getting in to Shannon at 7am on Thursday the 24th, so I should be back to my flat before 10am.


Whew. Just reading that makes me tired... oh well. I'll manage I'm sure. And really, if the biggest complaint I have about my job is that I have to travel too much, things really aren't so bad.

Ok! Back to work!

the quest for a good chinese takeaway

I tend to write about things on this 'blog that aren't specifically Irish-- that is, things that happen in my life, but aren't unique to Ireland, or to being an American abroad, or anything like that. This is because my life really isn't all that interesting, most of the time. Yes, I live in Ireland, but much of day-to-day life here isn't all that different from life in the U.S. (I walk to the store and look right-left-right before crossing the street, instead of left-right-left. How exotic!) But lately I've been experiencing something that is rather different from my experience as a college student in the U.S. This is, of course, the quality of the Chinese takeout in Galway.

Now, don't get me wrong-- I have had some truly delicious Chinese and Asian fusion meals in this town. But those are generally found at nicer sit-down type restaurants. I'm talking about the kind of Chinese food that comes in paper box, from a place that's open until 3am and has a neon dragon sign in the window. I'm a big fan of Chinese takeout, and in college Jim and I tried every Chinese restaurant that was within walking or delivery distance of MSU. Recently, I've begun doing the same here... with disappointing results.

In the U.S., a dish like (for example) chicken and black bean sauce would be a stir-fry of thin pieces of chicken with things like bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, baby corns, and bean sprouts, tossed with the appropriate sauce. Over here, it seems to be more like: steamed pieces of chicken and steamed red bell peppers, green peppers, onions, and carrots, tossed with the sauce. Steamed veggies and chicken, while undoubtedly healthier, are also much more bland than stir-fried... and bell peppers and onions are not exactly uniquely Asian vegetables. This is something I've encountered at three separate restaurants. Sometimes the sauce is very good, which makes it a decent meal, but it's not what I'm looking for in a Chinese takeaway. (And sometimes the sauce is bland and watery and gross, which makes the whole thing a huge disappointment.)

Basically, I can get better stir-fry veggies frozen at the grocery store. And the store also has a nice selection of stir-fry sauces. So, I think I've come to the conclusion that if I'm craving Chinese food, I'm better off making it myself. Which isn't helpful for those days when you really don't feel like cooking.


In other news, I made a sudden impulse purchase yesterday, and consequently have acquired an awesome new hobby. I'm not going to go into details yet, because I'm an absolute beginner, but suffice to say that the fingertips of my left hand are really sore right now...

is it fall yet?

Yes, summer vacation is over, and I am back in Galway. Finally. My (nice long) vacation was lovely, really, but it's also quite nice to be back in my apartment, sleeping in my bed. I got in on Wednesday morning and have spent the week unpacking, getting re-organized, and slowly conquering my jetlag. (I think I've mostly gotten it taken care of. Now when I sleep in, I have no excuse except laziness.)

I love this city, even though it's been mostly cool and rainy since my return. I also love my apartment, even though the problems I was having before my vacation didn't magically fix themselves while I was gone. The cold tap in my sink broke back in July-- this has happened before, and that time my landlord came over and fiddled with something that fixed it for a while, though it was still finicky. Also, back in June my shower had started losing pressure and gradually got hotter and hotter, until it began oscillating between scalding hot and icy cold. (This also happened before, earlier this year, and a guy came and fixed it while I was at school.) So, Wednesday, I called my landlord (hereafter referred to as "Frank," since that's his name) to inform him that I was back, and told him about these problems. Yesterday afternoon, he came over to fix things.

Yesterday was Saturday, and Saturday in Galway there is a great outdoor street market, with fresh produce and food vendors and all sorts of fun things. I had been looking forward to going, since it's been months, and yesterday was quite warm and sunny; I was planning on buying some vegetables and maybe getting some Indian food or sushi or fresh donuts. Then, right as I was starting to eat my lunch, Frank came by. He fixed the shower, and told me how to fix it myself next time-- the problem is limescale buildup in the shower head, so all I need to do is take it apart and clean it. Then he took apart the tap in the kitchen and discovered that the tap fitting (or something) was broken on the cold side, and that he'd need to get a new part. He left to go buy a replacement, and said he'd be back in two hours, at 3:00pm. By the time I finished eating and washing up from lunch, it was after 2, so I figured I'd just wait for him and thought maybe I'd go to the market after he left. At 4:30 he returned and replaced both taps in the kitchen sink for me.

I appreciated his fixing things for me, of course. The shower this morning was warm and wonderful, and having two working taps in the kitchen again is great. It's really nice to have a landlord who runs a construction company and knows how to fix household things. But instead of walking around the market in the sun, I got to spend the afternoon sitting around my flat waiting for Frank. I did leave at around 6:00pm to take a walk and maybe do a little late shopping, but all the stalls in the market were either gone or closing up. (I was surprised by how many were still there, honestly; they must have stayed late to take advantage of the great weather.) All the shops in town were closed or closing, too. Even on a Saturday everything in Ireland closes by 6:30, which I guess I'd forgotten.

There is a limited street market on Sundays, so I thought maybe I'd go there today. But, of course, today it's cold and rainy and blustery, and I really don't feel like walking around in that. Oh, Ireland, how I've missed you...

Windy City post!

Yes, I am posting this from Chicago! Sorry for the radio silence on this 'blog, but I've been on vacation, and despite spending my days being super-lazy that still has been surprisingly busy. Anyway I've been at my parents' house, and they are about 90% of my readership anyway. :-P

So, I am currently at Jim's apartment in Chicago. Tomorrow morning I am flying out to San Diego to visit my sister! I haven't seen Hanna since Christmas, and I haven't visited her in California in over two years. Needless to say, I'm very excited. Adventures will be had!

Then it will be back to MI, and the annual Pirate Party. Then I'll have another week to bum around, and then I'll go back here to do some research at the University of Chicago, before I fly back to Ireland on August 25. Oy.

quick update

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! I have been crazy busy. I was in New York for four days, then Boston for a week, then Rhode Island for two days, and now I'm in New York again. (With another two days in Massachusetts thrown in there.) I am leaving on Wednesday already... the three weeks really have flown.

I am currently at my friend Meredith's apartment in Brooklyn. She lives here with her boyfriend Michael, but he is in Israel right now for his work. Michael is a good guy, and I'm sad I don't get to see him more on this trip-- the three of us had dinner the day I got in, but that's it-- but I feel better about crashing on their futon for a week when there are only two people here, not three. I would be worried about being in their way too much if both of them were here, but since it's just me and Meredith I don't feel like I'm taking up too much space.

So I have one more full day at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and then about fourish hours on Wednesday, if I need them. We'll see. This trip has been wonderful; the work has been hard, but quite rewarding, and it was been simply lovely to see new places and good friends.


Eventually I'll make a proper update, with comprehensive impressions and pictures and all. But I'll leave you with this, for now, oh reader: yesterday afternoon found me eating Salvadoran street food while sitting under the Brooklyn Bridge on a beautiful summer day. Which I think is one of those "to do before I die" items.

Ayla Abroad... in Manhattan!

Yes, this post comes from Hostel 99, in Manhattan's Upper East Side. I arrived in New York City yesterday afternoon! I am staying here until Sunday, when I will be traveling to Boston and staying there for a week. I might end up staying longer in Boston, depending on how much I get done in that week, or I might go back to New York after that. Oh, and one weekend in there I'm going to Rhode Island.

This is by no means a vacation, of course. I'm here for research: the big theatre collections for the period I'm studying are at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and at the Harvard Theatre Collection. (And the Museum of the City of New York archives, but that's closed for renovations.) Today-- in a couple hours-- I'm going to head down to the Library for the Performing Arts and start exploring. It's kind of intimidating, because I really don't know what I'm looking for, but still exciting!

Which shows how much of a dork I am, I guess. I'm intimidated by a library card catalogue, but actually getting to the library-- getting around in New York City, a place I have no previous knowledge of-- is no biggie. Well, it's easy to get around! It's definitely easier to follow directions and maps here than in, say, Dublin... here at least the streets are in grids and don't change their names every block. The subway is easy too, and there's a station not far from my hostel. And, if all else fails, I can always hail a cab, but I'm trying to do this on a budget. Hence the hostel.


Last night, I met up with my friend Meredith. Meredith and I were in the same MA, but when she finished she moved back to Brooklyn and now works at a publishing company. Toward the end of my trip-- when I come back from Boston-- I'm going to be staying with her, which will be fun. We went out for dinner last night in Chinatown, at a restaurant called Yeah Shanghai Deluxe. It was delicious, and she insisted I keep the leftovers, so I have dinner taken care of for the next couple days!

Speaking of food, the hostel breakfast is starting...

faux toes

As promised, photos from the beautiful weather and Ocean Race festivities!

(Click to embiggen.)

Crowds at the Spanish Arch.


And so Salthill became a European beach resort. So many inappropriate swimsuits, and naked children, at odds with Irish prudery.


I found a crab!


Hookers racing! (No, the jokes never get old.)


Hookers AND curraghs racing! At seeing this, my friend Jenn said, "It's like Galway Bay threw up culture!"


Some of the racing boats. The Green Dragon is on the far left.


The deck of one of the racing yachts. I would NOT want to be on that thing in a storm!


A mandala made of seashells in Shop Street! It looked really cool. (I took this picture for my mom, who enjoys mandalas.)

Summer, all five days of it!

Since last we spoke, Ireland has seen some of the nicest weather it's ever had! This, coupled with the Volvo Ocean Race, has made the streets of Galway overflow with people. A chronological account of all the fun things I've been up to would take way too long, so I'll just leave you with some highlights.

-Boat races. This is, I suppose, rather obvious as the whole reason for the festivities is a 'round-the-world yacht race, but it wasn't just the official Ocean Race yachts. There were also curragh races and hooker races! Yes those are both types of boats. A curragh is a small canoe-like boat that is rowed by three people, and a hooker is a fishing sailboat. Anyway Jenn and I went down to Salthill and watched the boat races on Monday, which was also one of the nicest days. It was at least 80° F and sunny! (In addition to watching the boats racing, we waded in the ocean and skipped stones for an hour. Lovely.)

-The mass amounts of people and the Race Village. The Race Village was set up on the Docks, around the harbor where the boats were all docked, and consisted of rows of vendor tents. Mostly food and souvenir vendors, though there were some other random little local companies represented. In the evenings, all the pedestrian streets were barricaded off as "no glass zones," and the bars all threw opened their windows and sold beer in plastic cups right onto the street! It reminded me of nothing so much as Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I am not much for the bar scene, but one evening Jenn and I each got a plastic cup of Guinness and just walked around people-watching. I have never seen so many people in Galway! All the hotels must have been overflowing.

-An airshow. My father used to take my sister and I to the airshow in Muskegon every year, so it was rather nostalgic for me... but also, it was just cool. The Red Arrows are the U.K.'s Royal Air Force Aerobatics team, and they are awesome! It was a very exciting show.

-Free concerts! All types of bands, from trad to folk to rock, played for free all week. Jenn and I went to three evenings of music, and with the nice weather and the 10:15 pm sunset it was always fun.

-Swimming at the beach. Let me explain how significant this is. When I moved to Ireland, I saw people swimming in Galway Bay, and I thought they were crazy. It's not usually much above 60° F in midsummer, and the North Atlantic is always effing freezing, so I swore I would never swim in the ocean. And then, Tuesday, it was over 80° F. It was sunny and there was no wind-- also very unusual for Galway!- and so I packed up a beach bag and went down to the beach at Salthill. I lay in the sun reading until I got too hot, and then I waded into the bay. The water was cool, but it felt wonderful after being in the hot sunshine. It was also incredibly clear, even when it got deep... clear and green. I floated easily in the salt water until I got too cold, then returned to the beach to read. I ended up swimming three times, and then again on the walk home! Gorgeous.

-Just generally laying around in the sunshine. Last Sunday, I spent about five hours laying in the grass by the canal reading Pride and Prejudice, not to mention the three hours at the beach on Tuesday. I even managed to get a bit of a sunburn on the first day of sunshine! (After that I was quite careful with the sunscreen.) On Wednesday and Thursday, I decided that I really should get back to working, but I couldn't quite face sitting at my basement cubicle. So I brought my books to a coffee shop and read outside while drinking iced coffee. I love summer weather... it's the biggest thing (that isn't a person) that I miss about Michigan.


Of course, Friday it dropped back down to the low 60s, and yesterday was the last day of the Ocean Race. So Ireland is back to normal, cool and rainy and sparsely populated. Which isn't a bad thing, though I miss the warm weather already. (I wore skirts and tank tops for four days in a row! Fantastic!) It all makes me look forward even more to my upcoming summer adventures in the 'States... more on that later!


(Pictures forthcoming, whenever I get them uploaded.)

the Green Dragon

So the buzz in Galway this week is the Volvo Ocean Race. When Jim was here, we saw signs for it and he asked about it. I didn't know what it was, so I told him that it was a foot race across the ocean. Well, it's actually a sailboat race around the world! One leg of the race is from Boston to Galway, and that leg finished last night. Ireland's team in the race is on a boat called the Green Dragon, which I just think is a cool name. (So I bought a t-shirt! More on that below.)

Anyway the exciting part... last night, the Green Dragon finished third in this leg of the race! Very cool. The next leg of the race doesn't start for twelve days, so there are events on all week. Because of the race, Galway is all gussied up... and renamed in places, oddly.

(Click to embiggen!)

The tricolor and the stars & stripes, flying side-by-side!


Volvo Ocean Race banners and a new signpost. These new signposts have gone up all over Galway-- there's one at the entrance to the college-- and they point toward fairly touristy attractions. This one also points to NUIG and the hospital, for some reason.


More flags! Right to left: EU flag, County Galway flag, Ocean Race flag, Irish flag.


Map on the door of a pub. This is the new thing in Galway-- the shopping streets in the city centre are now called the "Latin Quarter." It amuses me that a city as small as Galway can have "areas" or "quarters." It would take maybe ten minutes, tops, to walk from the top to the bottom of the area highlighted as the "Latin Quarter" on that map.


So, since I figured this is a pretty rare and cool event, and since the shirts looked cool, I decided to buy a Green Dragon t-shirt. It's neat looking: the name on the top right, and on the side a dragon that wraps around from the front to the back.

belated pictures from Cork

A while ago, I went with the NUI Galway Orchestra to Cork. My friend Sarah just emailed the pictures she took of the weekend, so I thought I would share a couple!

(Click to enlarge!)

Me and Liz, a cellist. This is what Cork looks like-- very urban-- so I was surprised when we got to the University College Cork campus and it looked like this:


Very peaceful, with footbridges and lots of grassy areas and pretty flowering trees.


Me and Sarah, violinist, in front of the UCC quad.


The orchestra and one of the choirs, playing one of the Mozart pieces. I'm hiding behind my stand.


The orchestra in action! I'm again hidden behind my stand, but at least you get a good view of the conductor Hugh's awesome ponytail.


Orchestra standing. There I am, back row in the center!

hiberno-english

Having visitors from America always makes me see the little things that I take for granted about living in Ireland. Things that, to me, seem perfectly normal and which I might not even notice will stand out as particularly "Irish" to new visitors. Jim's recent visit, for example, has had me noticing slang more than usual. So I decided to include a few of my favorites...

Cheers: people say "cheers" to mean "thanks," informally or casually. This is one that Jim pointed out, after he held a door for three young Irish men and they all said "Cheers!" to him.

Lads: used the way an American might use "guys"-- as a gender-neutral informal form of address. My friend/fellow PhD James says this a lot, even when he's talking to a group of women. "All right, lads, what are we doing?"

Deadly: very good. I was hanging out with some Irish friends last night, and one was talking about taking his dog to a new vet. The other said "Oh, I've heard of that vet! I've heard she's deadly." Then they both started laughing, and clarified "deadly good."

How're you keeping? Instead of "How's it going?" I'm never quite sure how to respond to this one, actually, because my stock quip answers don't apply here! When someone asks me "how's it going?" I respond "It's going!" But saying "Oh, I'm keeping" doesn't quite work...

Jim's visit!

When last we spoke, a radiator had just fallen on my legs. (I still have very colorful bruises! And if I'm lucky I might end up with some scarring on my right ankle.) Since then, things have been considerably more exciting, because my lovely wonderful boyfriend Jim visited me!


Us in Salthill, above Galway Bay. I love this picture, despite my squinty-closed eyes!

Originally, he was only going to stay about four days. Then he made a Big Sale (or something) and his boss gave him the rest of the week off! So he changed his ticket and stayed a full week instead. With the extra time, we talked about going to Dublin or Cork for a day or two. We talked about taking a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher or Connemara. In the end, all we did was wander around Galway, go out to eat, and hang around in my apartment. And it was fabulous. Really, whenever I get to spend quality time with my love, it's a good time. ♥


I would ramble a lot more, but I have a history exam to study for... an exam. This actually really annoys me for a couple reasons. First, I'm a PhD! Ok, yes I took classes this semester, but we're not supposed to be actually evaluated on anything. That's what the PhD thesis is for. And, second, I'm a LITERATURE PhD. We don't take exams, we write papers! I wouldn't mind writing a final paper, I can bang that out in a day if you want. But taking an exam means I have to actually know things, like names and dates and places. As a literature person I'm used to looking up anything I might need to know, and then citing it appropriately. Actually memorizing things is just so foreign to me! Annoying.

the hazards of spring cleaning

Today, I did some pretty heavy spring cleaning. "Spring" is a good description for it, because it was a beautiful day-- I actually opened my windows for the first time since I've lived here! I did laundry, swept, and mopped. Weirdly, I always enjoy mopping. It's kind of a pain because I have to move furniture around (and my back hurts from couch moving), but it reminds me pleasantly of my college summer job cleaning dorm rooms. I didn't enjoy the early hours-- 6 am is an unnecessarily cruel time to start work!-- or the idiot management, but I never minded the actual cleaning.

Anyway, while cleaning, I managed to get some cuts and bruises! I have a space heater that looks like a miniature radiator... it's on wheels, but it's very heavy, so much that I can't actually lift it. Having mopped, I was pushing it back against the wall, and I guess the wheels must have gotten locked up or something, because suddenly it fell forward and landed on my feet and legs. Bare feet and legs, I was wearing flip-flops and capri pants. There was a moment of shock, where I just thought "Oh no, I hope that didn't chip the tile!" and "That was loud!" ... and then the synapses caught up, and then it hurt like a bitch. There were scrapes on both legs and the tops of both feet, and two cuts on my right foot. I hobbled to the kitchen, washed the cuts with antibacterial soap, and stuck on a couple bandages. One cut is about a half inch long and isn't too bad; the other is over an inch long, and 9 hours later hasn't stopped bleeding. I just changed the bandage because the first one soaked through.

I feel bad complaining about this, because my friend Susan just got hit by a car and had to get stitches! (She's ok, just had a cut on her leg that needed some stitches.) It's honestly not that bad, just kind of painful. I anticipate some spectacular bruises. There was a scrape on my right foot, between the cuts, that was purple instantly!


Taken right after I got done bandaging. Instant bruising! (Also note my hairy unshaven legs and flip-flops that I got for €2 from Penneys, or Primark to you tea-sodden football hooligans. I actually hate flip-flops and only wear them for cleaning and hostel showers.)


The culprit! (It didn't chip the tile, luckily.)


It looks innocent enough...


... but look at those scary sharp edges!

I've only used the thing like once, it was left by the previous tenants. I realize that I just posted pictures of my space heater, which might set a record for inanity of pictures on the internet (though I'm not sure if anything can top beedogs.com.) If the bruises are as good as I'm expecting, I'll take more in a couple days.

ooof

The subject pretty much says it all. It has been a busy week and an even busier two days... yesterday and today was the Irish Theatrical Diaspora Conference. I wasn't sure if it would be all that useful or relevant for my work, but I figured I should go anyway. Man I am glad I did! It was excellent; even though the period talked about was all at least 50 years ahead of my work, there was a ton of useful stuff. I haven't been to a real, professional conference before, and the level of engagement was just fascinating. Plus some of the Big Names in theatre studies were there, and I got to talk to them. (John P. Harrington, who I've cited a billion times, was interested in my research and made a point to talk to me a couple times! *nerdysquee*) Also, my favorite professor from the MA, Patrick Lonergan, just had a new book come out, and Lionel did the speech to launch it. Which was fun. And, of course, the free food... NUIG really does a good job with the food and wine at its functions. We got wine and champagne and finger food at the book launch last night, and really delicious sandwiches today for lunch. (I had a sandwich that had brie, fresh basil, and some sort of pancetta! Delicious!)

It was fun to socialize a bit with Lionel and Patrick, really. Patrick especially is hilarious, because he's a huge nerd-- in one of his speeches about the conference history, he managed to reference both Harry Potter and Star Wars. (Last year in the MA, he made frequent references to Star Wars, Star Trek, and Buffy. In an Irish Literature class.) Also, it's just really nice to talk to academics, because I know I'm not boring them when I talk about my research!

It's funny, really... the go-to topic in academic smalltalk is "how is your research going?" I got asked that SO MANY times in the last couple days. Though Nessa complimented my hair first... and Lionel complimented my shoes, which was almost kind of weird. Anyway last night I went out for drinks with a PhD from University College Dublin, and I was up too late and slept very poorly, and consequently have felt tired all day. The conference folks are going out for drinks tonight, and I feel like I should go-- if only for a chance to drink with Patrick Lonergan!-- but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it out. I'm pretty exhausted.

Things I love

-I have now lived in this apartment for six months. Today, walking from the living room through the kitchen to the bedroom, I thought suddenly "I love my apartment!" I really do! Six months is enough time to find all the little things that are wrong with a place and to start getting annoyed by them, but I still love this apartment. It's not perfect-- I wish it had a bathtub, for one-- but it's still lovely. Cozy but not too small, minimal without feeling sparse, everything one person could need.

-I really really love soy milk. Yum. I recently decided to switch over entirely, after discovering that soy milk is only slightly more expensive than regular milk and that I like it better in my coffee and tea. The only problem is that I like it so much, it would be easy to drink the whole carton the day I buy it. (I have been known to drink half a gallon of soy milk in one day.)

-My wonderful boyfriend Jim is visiting me, and he will be here in nine days! Yay!

People's Republic of Cork

So this weekend I went to Cork with the orchestra! We performed the same concert as last week, again with the choirs from Cork and Clifden, at University College Cork. And we stayed at a 4-star hotel, which was definitely one of the nicest hotels I've ever seen! The rooms were super-comfy, the shower was gorgeous, and the food was fantastic. (The included breakfast buffet was amazing! Hot food, lots of fresh fruit, even a smorgasbord platter with fancy cheeses and meats and smoked salmon.) The Orchestra Society must have gotten a lot of money for the trip, because it only cost each of us €70 for two nights and meals.

I've been to Cork before, and it is a very urban city-- it's the second largest city in Ireland, but is only 1/10th the size of Dublin. (Dublin is about 1,500,000, and Cork is about 150,000.) I always sort of think of Cork as being like Dublin, but compressed to 1/10th its size; squeezed between two hills onto islands in the River Lee, the city seems to have all the energy and conflict of Dublin, but pressed closer together. There are sketchy alleys coming off the posh pedestrian shopping streets, and medieval cathedrals butting onto dodgy Chinese markets. And lots of graffiti, especially political graffiti. (Cork likes to pretend that it is its own country; t-shirts that say "Cork Republic" are popular [I have one!], and I have a friend who says he's from "the People's Republic of Cork.")

Given this impression, I was expecting the UCC campus to be a very urban one. So I was very surprised to see that it actually looks a lot more like what I think of as a "college campus" than other colleges I've seen in Ireland. It actually reminded me somewhat of MSU, with wide grassy spaces and footbridges over the river and exotic trees with little identifier plaques. The architecture, of course, is much more European; I heard people comparing it to Cambridge. It was very pretty, and the auditorium where we performed was all high dark wood ceilings and bookcases and stained glass windows.

Of course, the best part of the weekend was the after-party. Musicians are the best people to party with. We started drinking in the hotel bar around 10:30, and at midnight the instruments started coming out, and suddenly there was a trad session on. There was a guitar, an accordion, a bodhran, a double bass, a penny whistle, and about nine violins! The highlight, for me, was the jam session of "Summertime." It was awesome-- everyone playing took a solo, and it had an almost klezmer sound. Anyway, they jammed until after 3am, when I went to bed... and I guess they started up again at 4:30! Irish people are crazy, and musicians are crazy, and Irish musicians are the craziest. :-)


One weird thing from the weekend, though... I shared a hotel room with two British girls, one (violinist) from Yorkshire and one (cellist) from Belfast.* (That's not the weird part.) I always used to pick up lots of the speech patterns of whoever I talk to, but I don't really do that with Irish people for some reason. But after spending three days talking to the Brits, I found that I was using a lot of their syntax and inflections. It culminated Sunday afternoon when I said "pavement" instead of "sidewalk!" I don't know where that came from...




*I realize that calling someone from Belfast "British" as opposed to "Irish" is contentious and politically charged, but that is what she considered herself. I think she's Protestant. Oh, Northern Ireland...

I like my Mozart like I like my men... (Musical excitement part 2)

... gloomy and ecclesiastical? I dunno.

Background information: I have played the clarinet for 14 years (!!) and currently I'm in the NUI Galway Chamber Orchestra, also known as "Orchestra Society" or "orchestra soc."

So orchestra soc had our second concert yesterday. We put on a concert with two choirs, playing a bunch of Mozart, as well as a (choir-less) Schubert symphony. Normally, we rehearse once a week for an hour and a half. This week, in order to get things together with the choirs, we also rehearsed for 2.5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday, before the (hour-and-a-half) concert Sunday night. The stamina in my facial muscles is not what it once was, and so by the end of the 3 hour rehearsal on Sunday afternoon I was really sore. --Sidebar-- Something that non-musicians might not know is that playing an instrument, especially a wind instrument, is painful! It can be a fairly strenuous activity. Anyway, all the extra long rehearsals did a number on me, and I had a hard time holding my embouchure by the end. And I bit through my lip callus, too,* so I had to resort to the old trick of putting a bit of wax paper over my lower teeth. That was fine for the concert-- although holding a bit of paper in my mouth makes me salivate a lot more, which causes its own set of issues-- but today it's still really raw, and drinking hot coffee kind of hurt.

But aside from all that! The concert was in the medieval church in town, which was really cool... except we didn't get to rehearse there until Sunday afternoon, and that place has weird acoustics. (It's really hard to hear the people around you, but out in the audience it sounds great.) Getting used to that was hard, and so our rehearsal on Sunday afternoon was brutal. Hugh, the conductor, was getting pretty pissed by the end. But, somehow, we brought it together for the concert! The performance went really well... the pieces with the choirs were simply gorgeous. I didn't play in a couple of the movements, so I got to just sit back, close my eyes, and listen to some glorious Mozart being played in a medieval church. Beautiful.

Our Schubert symphony, sans choirs, went quite well too. We've performed it once before, and this concert was at least four times better than the last one. The oboes were in tune, the flutes didn't make me want to kill someone (which counts a "good"), and I nailed all my solo bits. Yay.

Next weekend we are going to Cork, about threeish hours away, for our final performance. We're going down Friday, performing Saturday afternoon, and returning Sunday. It should be a fun time!


In conclusion, it has been a very musically exciting weekend, which has left me feeling rather regenerated. Music really is part of my soul. The downside, of course, is my carpal tunnel syndrome has been flaring up like crazy, and today I am wearing my wrist brace which I normally only wear to sleep. I can type surprisingly well with it, though I can't really handwrite effectively. Anyway I should stop rambling about music now, because I had actually planned on getting some work done today...





*Something else non-musicians might not know: playing a wind instrument is kind of gross.

Tell me, is something eluding you, sunshine? (Musical excitement part 1)

(This past weekend, I had a lot of musical excitement! So much I'm doing it in two posts. Here is the first part...)


I don't really have favorites. I enjoy a lot of things, and I feel like ranking them devalues the inherent enjoyment in some way. If you ask for my "favorite" anything, the best I could probably give you is a top 5 list in no particular order. The major exception to this is that Pink Floyd is my number 1 favorite band ever-- not that my other "favorite" bands are lesser, but that the 'Floyd is just that much greater. So when I tell you that this weekend I saw a stage adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall, you can understand my excitement.

Holy. Crap.

It was, well, a stage adaptation of The Wall! It actually reminded me a little of the live version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, where it's kind of a play and kind of a rock concert. Or maybe a play disguised as a concert. The plot and imagery were the same as the movie-- it actually used some of the movie's animations ("Goodbye Blue Sky," "What Shall We Do," and of course the infamous flower sex.) They used camerawork a lot, too; there were some pre-recorded sequences, and at least five camerapeople running around shooting different angles of the show. This stuff was shown on two big (12'x 9') projector screens on either side of the stage.

The stage stuff was mostly very faithful to the movie, although there were some artistic interpretations of certain scenes. All the characters were quite faithful... the one that deviated most was Pink himself. The actor was a guy in his 50s, slightly overweight, unshaven and with hair that was long and disheveled for most of the show. He worked really well, though. The Mother was excellent-- the part in The Trial where she ran down the stage singing "Baaaaaaaaaaaabe!" was perfect! And the Schoolmaster was spot on. He seriously looked just like the guy in the movie, mustache and angry Scottish accent and all! And he very obviously had fun with the part.

Musically-- oh man. So good! There was a 5-piece band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard) and a full 25-or-so-piece choir to back them up. The choir had excellent soloists, including one really lovely tenor and one guy who sounded a LOT like Roger Waters. The lead guitarist was fantastic-- his sound was very, very similar to David Gilmour's. His solos in Comfortably Numb were gorgeous. (And he also played the recorder during "The Trial," which was hilariously fitting.) The whole performance sounded almost scarily close to the album! Having a rock band backed by a choir is really the only way to do justice to Pink Floyd. And they all obviously loved it. I was watching the band at the transition moment into "Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2," and as they ripped into "We don't need no education!" the bassist had a huge grin on his face. The choir, also, did a lot of head-bobbing and dancing in place.

What else to say about it? There was a high platform at the side of the stage from which Pink shouted at the audience during (both versions of) In The Flesh-- and during the second one, two uniformed choir members started marching up and down the aisles, and then attacked a woman and started beating her with batons! Stage "beating," of course, but I'm still not sure if she was a plant or not. They built a wall across the stage right before the intermission, each brick probably 4' x 3', and until "Comfortably Numb" (where they knocked a hole in it) they just used the cameras and shot the action going on behind it. Which was mostly Pink standing facing the wall playing the guitar, or sitting in the armchair looking crazy.

At the end, they did an encore, playing "Comfortably Numb" with the whole ensemble onstage singing and encouraging the audience to sing-- and I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room made the same little finger-flick gesture simultaneously after "OK! Just a little pin-prick!" If you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. (*Ding!*) They then ended with "Another Brick pt. 2," during which the Schoolmaster chased the little boys around the audience and threatened audience members (including me!) while the cast danced onstage and everyone sang and clapped. I really can't stress how much fun the whole thing was. And musically excellent. I would have felt I got my money's worth even without the play, the band was that good.



If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes, you'll just have to claw your way through this disguise...

Relaxation

Hey look! An update on a Sunday for once! Crazy.

Well, the reason updates have been so sporadic is because I was in the middle some serious essay writing. I handed in my last midterm on Friday, though, and immediately felt a whole-body sort of sigh of relief. The fact that I was fairly happy with it helped. Not only did I hand in a paper, I handed in a good paper. There is something immensely satisfying for me in good academic writing. I really do love my career.

There is also something immensely satisfying in going to the library to return more books than one can easily carry. I had a stack of books that were slipping and falling out of my arms the whole walk from my cubicle.


This weekend has been fun and relaxing, too. Friday was my friend Jenn's birthday, so I went over to Jenn & Bri's apartment for dinner. I brought a bottle of wine and a bunch of daffodils, because I am physically incapable of attending a dinner party without contributing something, and I gave Jenn a pretty little headband that I made. Saturday-- yesterday-- I met up with Jenn in town and we went shopping together. Just for sundries, but it was the kind of shopping I do alone every weekend, so it was nice to have someone with me. We have also had absolutely beautiful weather all week, so it was nice to be out in the sun! I turned off my heat and have switched from my winter wool coat to my spring corduroy blazer, and crocheted a new spring scarf. Even though Ireland doesn't have the painful winters that Michigan does, it's still a nice change.

Also, I made some rather lovely chestnut and mushroom soup for dinner last night! It's not a perfect recipe-- for one thing, I think it would benefit from some sherry. (Of course, this would make only the third time in my life that I have required sherry to cook with, and since it comes in wine bottles but you only use about a tablespoon at a time, I don't think I'll be buying any.) Still, it's definitely a nice idea.

Today I slept in and have been crocheting and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I recently treated myself and bought the complete series box set-- all 140-some episodes, plus lots of special features! I will never need television again.* Plus the box itself is really nice, great presentation... it would be very nice to get signed, say, if I ever meet any of the cast! A girl can dream.

I've been crocheting a lot as usual lately, but with the exception of Jenn's headband and the shamrock I made for Paddy's day (both of which took about half an hour!) I haven't been working on any specific project. Rather, I've been practicing crocheting flowers. I think I've finally got a good method down. And today I've been practicing granny squares, again using flower motifs in the center. I saw a cute openwork sweater at the store yesterday, and it gave me an idea for a project using these elements. It makes me really happy to see fashionable items for sale and knowing that I could make them!

So, it's been a very relaxing weekend, after several stressful weeks. The stress will start up soon again, but for now it's nice to just sit back and crochet the flowers. Nothing terribly exciting, but nice all the same.


Have I mentioned that Jim is going to visit me? No, I guess not... Jim is going to visit me! He will be here the last weekend of April. I'm very excited. ^_^





*Yes, I know that Buffy is a tv show. But I'm watching on dvd, on a laptop, and have only actually seen in it on a television broadcast maybe twice. I really love tv-on-dvd, and really hate television.

Happy Saint Patrick's day!

Yes, it is the biggest holiday in Ireland! No businesses are open, except pubs and off-licenses (liquor stores), and everyone is drunk by noon. Everyone who isn't a grad student that has a history paper due on Friday, that is.

Yes, I am spending this most raucous of holidays at my basement cubicle, working on a paper. It's my own fault, really-- I spent the thoroughly mundane weekend effing around and not doing much of anything, so now I have to spend a holiday working. It's ok. I don't have much money for drinking this month anyway, and I have to do a lot of work tomorrow too. But I did crochet a shamrock, and pinned it to my shirt, so that's kind of festive I guess.

(Friends back home are always saying "Oh, you're so lucky! You live in Ireland, that must be so fun!" Well, yes, I live in Ireland, but I'm also a grad student in Ireland. Doesn't leave much time for fun!)

One reason for me working so hard this week is that I will be chairing a seminar at a conference this weekend. This sounds much more impressive than it actually is-- it's an undergraduate history conference, and my role will be mostly to facilitate discussion with a group of undergrads. But it will look good, and I will do pretty much anything to pad out my CV! When did I become so career-oriented? (Probably about the time I got a career!)

weather? damn near killed 'er!

Holy crap! I am sitting here at my cubicle, working away, when I suddenly glanced up and noticed that it is snowing! Really hard! Huge fluffy chunky flakes! That is crazy.

I doubt it will stick, of course. I woke up this morning to weather reports on the radio talking about "bad road conditions" across Ireland due to snow, but by the time I left the house there wasn't any in sight. It's in the mid-high 30s today, so I'm sure it will all melt away as soon as it stops coming down. But still. Crazy!

... and it was so nice last week, too. In the mid 50s the whole time. I actually brought out my spring/fall jacket (a corduroy blazer) but now I'm back to my winter wool coat. Well, according to weather.com, it's supposed to cold this weekend but then back to normal Ireland weather next week.


I was going to make a post this weekend, about Irish Fat Tuesday traditions, but then I forgot. Maybe I still will, but right now I should get back to work. I just wanted to make a post documenting the bizarre occurrence of snow in Galway!

In which our heroine is a total squealing fangirl

I have internet at home again! Huzzah. Anyway, the most notable thing that happened this week was that, on Tuesday, I met Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman!

Amanda Palmer is half of the band The Dresden Dolls, and recently released a solo album. I saw her back in September, and she is fabulous. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers of all time, and if you knew just how much I read you'd realize how big a statement that is. His book American Gods is one that I can read and re-read over and over again-- I probably read it at least twice, maybe three times, a year. (Meaning that I've read it at least ten times.) He is something of a celebrity for me, and when I found out that he and Amanda Palmer were doing a reading together in Dublin, I figured I had to be there. Amanda's solo album is called "Who Killed Amanda Palmer," and features liner notes written by Neil. Also, they are releasing a book to tie in with the album-- it has artistic dead photos of Amanda, accompanied by Neil's short stories.

The show was absolutely fantastic. First of all, the venue, Chapters, is an awesome bookstore. It's the largest independent bookstore in Ireland, and has a huge used collection. As well as a really impressive graphic novel section. The staff were all really nice and helpful... which is important, as what they had thought would be a "small, intimate bookshop reading" had five hundred people turn up. Yeah, the place was packed. I got there at about 4:30-- it was supposed to start at 5-- and managed to get a decent seat on the floor. I wasn't too close, but I had a great view of Neil and Amanda.


(Sorry it's so blurry, I was zooming over a lot of heads.)

Since there were so many people, there were some technical difficulties in getting the reading going. For one thing, they decided to limit the signing to one item per person. ("So if you've brought your entire Sandman collection, you're shit out of luck," said Neil.) The book still isn't out, won't be out for a couple weeks, but they did material from it. They took turns, with Neil reading stories from the book while Amanda displayed the accompanying photos, and Amanda singing and playing the ukulele. Yes, the ukulele.

And. Neil and Amanda. Oh man. What can I say? Seeing Neil Gaiman read was almost surreal. I have seen so many pictures of the man, watched lots of videos of him speaking, and I read his 'blog, so when he walked up to the mic it was hard to grasp that this was the real man standing in front of me. I was definitely star-struck at first, just sitting there grinning excitedly. Neil Gaiman is, absolutely, a bard. His reading was pretty much magical. And he has a beautiful voice, and can somehow make the words "shit out of luck" sound genteel.

Amanda Palmer, of course, is gorgeous. She has an amazing, beautiful voice, and the fact that she did an acoustic set on the ukulele just makes her the more awesome. She played a Cure song, a song of her own composing, and Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees," all of which were beautiful in a way you don't associate with the ukulele. Her show back in September was awesome, but that was a big concert; this was much more personal, much more like a conversation. She is also an absolutely cute, funny person, and the way she and Neil bantered was adorable.

After the reading was over, there came the signing, and a made chaotic rush to form a line ensued. I was nervous because I only had an hour to catch my bus, but luckily ended up at the front of the queue. (I guess the signing took over three hours to get everyone!) Since there were 500 people behind me, I wasn't exactly able to talk to them, but I did get to say hello while they were signing my things. (I brought my copy of Amanda's album, and bought a copy of The Graveyard Book at Chapters.) I would just like to say this: Neil Gaiman said my name. *swoon*

(From left to right: some other fan in line, Ayla about to explode in squealing, Amanda Palmer signing my CD, Neil Gaiman talking to me!)

And, my booty:

I love Amanda's handwriting, especially the swirly curly way she wrote my name!


That is EXACTLY what I want my headstone to look like. *swoons some more* You can't tell in my webcam photo, but Neil signed with a fountain pen in dark brown ink. Including an ink spatter by the moon. Gorgeous.

Hooray for meeting famous people! I took some videos, but I have to mess with them a little. I'll post 'em as soon as they're up on youtube. Also, Neil talked about the show on his 'blog. Wee!

weekend update

Wow, I actually had an interesting weekend, for once!

Saturday I wasn't planning on doing anything, but then my friend Bri invited me over for movies with some friends from the Medieval Studies department. I brought over a bottle of shiraz and some Fererro Roche dark chocolates. We watched American History X (a totally appropriate Valentine's day movie) and talked about racism, and then watched Music and Lyrics and talked about how good Hugh Grant looks without a shirt. (Conclusion: very.) Nothing exciting, but it was nice to be out with friends for Valentine's day.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but I am in the NUIG Orchestra Society. We had a concert last Monday, actually, playing a Schubert symphony. Anyway, yesterday, we had an extra-long rehearsal. Usually we meet for 90 minutes on Monday nights, but Hugh (the conductor) wanted us to take a whole afternoon because we were learning new music. We're playing some Mozart pieces, which we will eventually combine with two choirs. The rehearsal was in Esker Monastery, about 20 minutes outside of Galway. That was cool. It was a beautiful secluded building, and the monks kept popping their heads in to tell us that the music was lovely. There were some snags, because none of the parts I had were actually written for B-flat clarinet. (NB: your garden-variety clarinet is in the key of B-flat and probably 98% of music is scored for it.) One was written for an A clarinet-- this isn't too unusual, I have run into A clarinet scores before. But two were written for C clarinet! I've never even seen a C clarinet. Transposing that is easy, though, and the pieces were really simple, so I was able to do it by sight. Transposing from A to B-flat is a lot more difficult, though, and the piece had four flats already. Luckily, Hugh knew someone who lived nearby that had an A clarinet, so we took a 10-minute break from rehearsal and went to get it. And man, that was so fun! I'd never played an A clarinet before. It's just a little bigger, so that took some getting used to, but the tone is just gorgeous. Hugh is going to try transposing that movement to B-flat, but I'm hoping that we can just find an A clarinet for me to play. Yay music.

Anyway, after rehearsal we all went back to Hugh's house, and he made dinner for all 25 of us! We ate lasagna and drank wine and hung out with his wife and two little kids. Overall, it was a really nice night. I'm really happy that I decided to join Orchestra Soc. I've been playing the clarinet for 13 years, and when I'm not in an ensemble I start to get stir-crazy.

quick note

Again, sorry about the scarcity of updates. (Not that there is much new in my life-- I spend all day at my cubicle, reading and taking notes and writing papers, occasionally going to a class. In the evening and on weekends, I cook, I crochet, and I watch movies on my laptop.) I am still having problems with the internet at my apartment, mainly that I don't have internet at my apartment right now, and I'm probably going to cancel the service I have and get a new provider.

Anyway, I wanted to throw up a quick note. My weekend was uneventful but lovely-- lovely mainly because it was uneventful. Very relaxing. The weather has been mostly cold but dry lately, with "hard frosts" at night and very little rain. As much as I miss Michigan summers, I think Irish winters (or lack of winters) makes up for it. It's pretty much like a Michigan autumn year-round.

Obamanation!

I have internet at my house again, but I am posting this from school, because I have spent the last half hour being distracted from my work by reading about President Obama (isn't that cool to say?!) online.

Living, as I do, in Ireland, I have been rather out of touch with what's been going on back in AmericaLand. Specifically, I have been curious about how the new president's term has been going. So I am now hooked on this website, which tracks Obama's first 100 days in office. It's updated all day by different journalists as things happen, and is great for someone like me that doesn't get the constant media bombardment. (I don't have a tv, so if I want to see news I have to seek it out.) And, in these first ten days, I have been happy to see a definite feminist stance! On his fourth day in office he lifted the ban, put in place by Bush, on federal funding for family planning agencies that "promote or give information about" abortion. And the first law he signed was supporting equal pay rights in the workplace for women. (And look, he keeps campaign promises! Wow!) As a proud vagina-American, this makes me very happy. And it just makes me wonder about all those "feminists" who support(ed) Sarah Palin. Do you really think any of this would have happened if McCain had been elected? Certainly the ban wouldn't get lifted during a McCain administration.

I also found an interesting editorial that characterizes Obama as a "liberal imperialist." It's an interesting article, and a pretty strong thesis. However, I wouldn't call Obama a "humanitarian imperialist," at least not in reference to his support of military action in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His express reasons for action in those countries is U.S. security. Now, in my opinion, war is always a great tragedy, but if intelligence shows that there is a direct threat to your country, then it is a leader's responsibility to protect the country and neutralize the threat. Preferably this should get done without, you know, killing, but I'm a little too cynical to believe that diplomacy can always win. Iraq never posed any threat to the U.S., and all the half-assed flimsy excuses that the Bush administration came up with to go in there-- Al Qaeda, WMDs, etc-- were unfounded, and millions of dollars (not to mention lives) were poured into the country for no real reason while groups that were actually making direct threats to the U.S. went ignored. (I remember an article a few years ago in The Onion, in response to Kim Jong Il's threats... "Bush on North Korean Threat: We Must Invade Iraq!" It went to "quote" Bush as saying things like "This threat in North Korea must be dealt with, so it is imperative that we send troops to Iraq.") The people who destroyed the World Trade Center and killed thousands of civilians live in Afghanistan. If we have to resort to violence, at least it should be directed at the right people. That isn't an attempt at cultural or political hegemony, it's just security.

Sorry, that turned into kind of a rant! Well, what else is a 'blog for?

Also, isn't it interesting that all my sources for information on the White House are British?

everybody talks about it, but no one does anything about it

(Still don't have internet at home, so updates might be sporadic for the month of January. Apologies!)


Man, it is winter in Ireland! Friday was an absolutely lovely day, sunny and in the high 40s, so I was hoping for a nice weekend-- I had visions of myself ambling around the market, maybe eating a crepe or drinking a coffee, on Saturday afternoon. Alas, it was not to be-- the weekend was incredibly windy and blustery. There were winds up to 70 miles an hour! Lots of trees blew down, and there were warnings on tv and on the radio not to drive because of all the falling limbs. And, of course, there was constant rain and hail. Consequently I spent as much time indoors as possible, not even venturing as far as the college.

Then, this morning, I woke up to see snow! It didn't even melt off until noon! I know, in Michigan right now the snow is literally ass deep, but seeing any snow in Ireland at all is rare. Met Éireann promises "hail, sleet and snow showers in many areas this evening and tonight, with a continuing risk of thunder," and "an unsettled, wintry week ahead." Oh, joy.

Happy new year!

Happy 2009!

I am back in Ireland, after an enjoyable and relaxing break. Perhaps too relaxing, because it's been very difficult to get back in the swing of things back on this side of the pond. I have actually been back for about ten days, but I spent the first week sleeping and watching movies online. (More on that later.) I have been under the thrall of some pretty bad jetlag-- the last couple days, I have been falling asleep at my desk during the day, and lying awake in bed at night. My classes have finally begun, though, so hopefully the demands of an external structure will help get things back on track. Also, my mother sent me some melatonin.

My classes, thus far, look interesting. I have two: "History of the Book" and "History of Colonialism and Imperialism." Now, if you saw my report card from last year, you would wonder why I'm taking two history classes, when it is clearly my weakest subject. Happily, PhD school works rather differently than MA school did: I don't actually have to write papers on the subjects! Any assignments are going to be something that is directly useful to my thesis-- like a chapter, or a literature review, or a conference paper. So, rather than memorizing details that have no relevance to my work, the classes are much more knowledge for knowledge's sake. As one of my classmates pointed out, it's like watching the History channel!


One unfortunate thing has happened, though. My internet connection at home has a limited bandwidth allowance per month-- 10 GB. On their site, it says "most people never exceed this." I have been using it now for three months, and the first two months I came in under the limit. Apparently, though, if you spend a week doing nothing but streaming videos for like 5 hours a day, you will burn right through it. Monday night, I ran out... but it kept letting me use the internet for another day, before cutting out and slapping on a €50 charge! (Ouch.) And now I am internet-less at home until the 27th. Two whole weeks. The reason I'm using this service is because it's much cheaper than any others I've found, €20/month instead of €40. But I'm not sure it's worth it, if I am going to be so limited. Of course, normally I don't spend 8 hours a day sitting around and streaming movies... normally I spend all day working at school, and then maybe use a couple hours of internet at home in the evening. I didn't go over the limit in the first two months I was using it, so I'll live with it this month. But if it happens again, I will switch to one of the more expensive but less limiting services. And now that I have some idea how much 10 GB of bandwidth is, I will pay better attention and won't get slapped with another charge.