There has to be a better way

I'm starting to think that Galway's Immigration office is guilty of human rights violations.

(Backstory: if you're a non-EU or non-EEA national, and you want to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days, you have to be registered as a legal immigrant. Registration permits you to stay for up to a year. If you're a student, as I am, it's not terribly difficult-- all you need is a few pieces of easily-obtainable paperwork. Fine. I could do without the accompanying €150 fee, of course, but overall the process is fairly easy. One of my first blog entries was about my first registration.)

So I have no beef with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, as a whole. I don't even have beef with any specific employees; they are generally pretty friendly. I have a major problem with the administration of the Galway GNIB office, though.

This is the fourth year I've had to go through the registration process. The past three years, it has been like going to the DMV or Secretary of State's office or whatever-- you go to the office, take a number, and wait until you're called. In the past I've had to wait for up to 3 hours, but whatever, it happens. This year, however, they are giving out all the numbers as soon as they open their doors at 7:30 am, and since they can only process so many people per day, if there are more people than that they don't get in. Yesterday, I arrived 20 minutes before the office opened; there was already a huge line, and I didn't get in.

[Here it is worth mentioning that the GNIB office is a 35-minute walk from my house, or about a €10 cab ride.]

Today, I left the house at 5:30am, arriving just around 6am. There were already probably 35 people in line when I got there, standing or sitting on the sidewalk outside the office. I sat, in the cold, on the cold pavement, for an hour and a half until they opened. By this time there were maybe 15 more people behind me. The single employee that was working let in about 20 or 25 people, but then stopped the rest. "I can only see this many people today," he said. "Come back tomorrow, or maybe next week, and try again." More than thirty people, more than half the line, were turned away, after waiting outside in the pre-dawn cold for hours. I am young, strong, and healthy, and I found the experience miserable-- there were small children, pregnant women, and elderly people who had been waiting. For hours. Outside. In the cold. Thankfully it wasn't raining today, but in Ireland it often is.

On Monday I'm going to try again. I'm going to leave my house at FOUR O'CLOCK in the morning, to walk for 35 minutes, to get there THREE HOURS before they open. Because apparently that's what you have to do, if you want to register as an immigrant. And when I get there, I just have to hope all my paperwork is in order and they don't arbitrarily decide I need something extra. One of my friends was turned away three times in a row, after going through the same thing I did. There has got to be a better way-- more employees would be a start. Maybe if you know you only have 25 slots available, have people make appointments. Whatever it is, leaving dozens of people out in the cold for hours only to be turned away is not the right way.

And now for something completely different

Instead of an update about my life, here is an update about one of my favorite things in life: words. I love words-- not just because of their literal meaning, but because of the way they look written down, the way they sound, they way they feel in your mouth when you pronounce them. I learned a new word today, and it just too wonderful not to pass on.

Petrichor: A pleasant, distinctive smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions.

This is why I love language.

A few of my other favorite words, to use, to write, to say:
-ephemeral
-bracken
-gloaming
-crepuscular

What are some of your favorites?

I might as well just open a hostel in my living room!

You know, when I look at other 'blogs maintained by other friends, my life just seems plain boring.

"But Ayla," you say, "you live in Ireland! That's a foreign country! Depending on who you ask, it might even be in Europe! How can that fail to be exciting?!"

Well, yes, I live in Ireland, which is a foreign country to an American like me, and may or may not be in Europe. But it is also a fairly prosperous English-speaking first world country. A lot of things are different from the United States, but they're all fairly small things. My overall lifestyle isn't all that exotic-- the biggest differences are things like when I buy cheese, I buy Charleville instead of Sargento brand. (Or, more likely, Dunnes store brand instead of Kroger store brand.) I look "right, left, right" instead of "left, right, left" before crossing the street. And I don't even try to order a whiskey sour, let alone a complicated mixed drink, when I'm in a bar.

Plus, I'm in grad school, and that is pretty much the same everywhere. I sit at my desk, I read books, and I write things. I could really be in any desk in any English-speaking country; the only reason I'm here is that NUIG has the faculty and resources that specialize in what I'm interested in.


Of course, I shouldn't be complaining about my life being boring: my friend Sara was just here for two weeks! As I'm sure I've mentioned before, having visitors is always refreshing, because they get excited about things you take for granted and give you a fresh perspective on your boring ol' life. When Sara was here, we went to the Galway City museum, which I had never done! We also did lots of shopping, ate lots of good food (both in restaurants and home-cooked), and went to a lot of bars. We even went to a club, something I had also hitherto never done in Galway! The verdict: clubs anywhere are overpriced, and the dancing isn't any better than the dancing you'd get at a regular bar. Still, at least now I can say that I've been to one.

Sara had to fly back to Detroit, by way of JFK airport, on September 11. Yeah. I was nervous that she'd have a security nightmare to get through, but she said it wasn't too bad. Though she added that the security personnel looked rather on-edge. She made it back safe and sound, though, which is all that matters.


AND! Speaking of visitors! My cousin Maggie and my aunt Barb are coming to visit me this weekend! Maggie is currently living in St Andrews, Scotland, working at THE golf course as a chef; Aunt Barbie is visiting her there. They decided to take a couple days to come visit me in Galway. They get here on Sunday, and I am super excited, because they are some of my most fun relatives to hang out with. Time to roll out the futon again!

Excelsior!

Well, I am back from my summer vacation in Michigan and Chicago. It was lovely! Beach time, good food and drinks, great friends-- pretty much everything a vacation needs to be.

After I got back, I spent a day getting back on my feet and then jumped back into the swing of things... for about four days. And then...

My friend Sara arrived! She is currently visiting me for the next ten days! Admittedly it would be a little more exciting if I hadn't just seen her two weeks before, but still. I love having friends visit-- it makes me look at my city in a whole new way. Plus, I like it when people stay with me. I'm a person who needs a lot of alone time, and overall I love living by myself, but waking up and having someone to chat with over your morning coffee is something that I miss. And having that kind of companionship, even (especially?) on a temporary basis, is really nice. It's like having a roommate, only without being slowly driven insane! (Well, maybe that's just me.)


Ok, off to exploring and adventure! Excelsior!

Ulster road trip photos-- FINALLY

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been really busy, and plus I didn't feel like I should update until I could put up my photos from the road trip. And since I took over 200 of them, well, it took me a while to finally get them sorted out.

But I did! And I put them on Facebook! You can see them all here!

After whittling it down from more than 200, I still put up 67 photos. So I'm not going to post them all here, simply because it's already taken most of the evening to get them up in one place. You should go look at them on Facebook, if you want to see them all. But I will give you some highlights...















The intrepid explorers:



Up next: adventure in Scotland! My lovely mother is flying over this week-- on July 21, my birthday!-- and we are going to Edinburgh and St Andrews together. I am almost inexpressibly excited! I have wanted to go to Scotland since I was a little kid, and going with my mother on my birthday is just too good. And then, as soon as we get done over there, we're flying back to the 'States together, for my summer break. I get to spend pretty much the whole month of August in Michigan and Chicago this time, and man am I looking forward to it. Excitement abounds!