Oh man, my weekend was crazy-go-nuts awesome! Well, ok, it wasn't that crazy. But it was warm! Thursday through Sunday it was in the 70s and sunny, which is about a semiannual occurrence in Ireland, so I had to take full advantage. (Today it's in the mid 60s, and weather.com says it will be back down to the 50s by Wednesday... sigh.)
Thursday:
-I woke up feeling crappy stomach-flu-y, so I laid low most of the day. Then in the evening Jenn invited me to come meet her, to sit outside a cafe and drink a glass of wine. I turned down the wine, but met her anyway.
-And it was warm and lovely, and I was suddenly very happy that I'd come out, and decided that my day couldn't get any better-- I was wearing short sleeves and a skirt! In Ireland!
-And then, who should walk past us down the street, but Cillian Murphy! (You know-- the main guy in 28 Days Later, the Scarecrow in Batman Begins, the bad guy in Red Eye, the tranny in Breakfast on Pluto...) He was in Galway for the 35th anniversary of a local theatre company that he was in, back in the day. Anyway, he walked past us about four times, and each time we squealed with excitement. I can happily report that he is just as gorgeous and dreamy in real life as in the movies!
Friday:
-I went out in the evening with Jenn. First to a bar, because one of her co-workers was having a birthday party there. I had never been to this particular bar, and when we walked in it looked kind of dingy and smelly, the kind of place where old men would watch football. But then we kept walking, out the back door and into the beer garden, which was absolutely lovely! Trees and plants, picnic tables, tin-and-tarpaper-roofed awnings, and another bar outside. I think it's my new favorite place to go for warm nights.
-Also, since it was a birthday party, there was chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting! And, since there were no plates, everyone ate their slice of chocolate cake with their hands. Eating chocolate cake with your hands is a highly underrated activity!
-After it got fully dark (11 or 11:30pm), Jenn and I continued on to a bonfire party. The bonfire party was down by the beach, and we met lots of random people. Including one Serbian guy with an accent that made him sound hilariously like Borat; at one point, he pinched my arm and said I was too small and needed some skin on my bones. (Yes, skin.)
Saturday:
-It was a beautiful sunny day, so I put on shorts and a tank top and went out to the Market!
-I bought a blended iced caramel macchiatto (yum!) and then picked up some Matar Paneer from the crazy Irish Hare Krishna dude who sells vegetarian Indian food.
-Then I sat on the grass outside the medieval church, drank my icey coffee and ate my Indian food while reading a book.
-After I finished eating, I did my shopping, picking up some fresh veggies (including beets! Beets are hard to find here for some reason!) and fresh fish at the Market. I also did some regular shopping at the grocery store, and in a fit of summer-induced madness bought some new sandals. (I'm only going to wear them like twice a year, so the purchase was probably unnecessary. But they were only €10 and are super-cute.)
Sunday:
-I went to the beach!!!! Woo! I can't stress how happy this makes me. I've only worn my bathing suit one other time in Ireland, during last summer's Week of Nice Weather. Jenn and I lay on the sand, reading and chatting and just enjoying the sun, for almost 4 hours. We tried to swim, but couldn't get more than knee-deep-- the water was just too dang cold. (In case we'd forgotten that Ireland is in the North Atlantic...) My feet were almost cramping from the cold after only a few minutes in the water. Still, it was a wonderful time.
-After getting home and eating dinner, I cleaned my apartment. I had planned on doing it earlier, but the day was just too nice to waste it inside-- you have to take advantage of every minute of sun on this damn island. So I did my spring cleaning in the evening. I started around 7pm and finished around 11, having thoroughly dusted, scrubbed, and mopped all the winter dirt out of this place. It's nice to finally have that done, and to have a sparkling clean flat again.
Today I'm staying home because I'm finally getting wi-fi installed! The internet man is supposed to come somewhere between 1 and 5 pm... I'm guessing he'll show up around 6:30 or so, that's how Irish service tends to work. Still, I'm excited!
Showing posts with label summer days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer days. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, June 7, 2009
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.)
-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.)
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
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