Rush

Since Monday: We had a national strike on Tuesday. That was good. I did a lot of research that day.

Wednesday came and I woke up and read my plays for theatre class - we're on JM Synge now. I read Playboy of the Western World and The Tinker's Wedding. Went to Theatre class. Went straight to Music after that. We were given our essay instructions, due the Monday we return to classes in January. Had dinner then met in the chapel to get ready for our Mozart show. We had black robes like we were graduating or we were lawyers or judges or something. Caroline and I set it up so that we lead in the girls from both sides - she starts the sopranos and i start the altos, so we would meet in the middle and stand next to each other. It was fun. I havent stopped hearing Mozart in my head since that night. Tho when I returned that evening I noticed I had developed a head cold.

Woke up on Thursday and went straight into my paper and research. Got so caught up in it that when Leeann texted me I noticed I was late. We had been invited by the Fiorellas to have Thanksgiving dinner with them (Dont even try, i know I didnt spell their name right). I had meant to leave 30 mins earlier when she texted me. I had planned on being there at 1:30, and dinner would be at 2. Instead it was 1:30-2 when I got into town, met LeeAnn and got on the Dart - another train system - that took us out to Shankhill. The kids were getting restless, so we were threatened with dinner starting without us, which of course we didnt mind. I just felt bad for being 30 mins late! (or an hour later than i had planned). We arrived to the town and I had directions but still, a bit unclear for us, so Doug ended up driving to meet us. Actually, he said it was good timing cuz he had just finished carving the turkey. Michele had school all day so I missed her. But we had turkey, stuffing and broccoli. I brought a couple of sodas and juice to help contribute. We talked with Doug and the older girls for several hours. It was nice. Then Doug drove us back into town, since he was on his way anyways. Well, we got stuck in some traffic and I was running behind, and not feeling too hot from the meal, so I chose to stay behind. It was a good choice. I needed to stay put cuz my body was a little unhappy, but I also got a lot done on my paper. I made a lot of head way that night. Once I finished I treated myself with "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" that I bought on iTunes.

Friday I woke up and after having a hard time waking up, I finally got up and started on my paper, getting just as much done as I had the day before, so I was really happy about that. I hadnt eaten all day and finished in enough time to take a shower and head into town a little before 6. I met LeeAnn and our other classmate Meng Ying at the Dart, where Tara, another classmate, was waiting for us. Her mom had invited us to come up. I was so glad I finished what I needed cuz I ended up having a great time! We got on the dart that took us to Rush, a small town in Northern Dublin where Tara lives. I love this town. It's seaside, it's small and cute and, just like at Cheers, everybody knows your name when you walk into the pub. That is true, as the bar tender called Tara by name! Well, we first arrived to a beautiful house by the sea - since it was dark we could only see the lights of Dublin and other towns leading up to it on the other side of the water. SOOO pretty (and cold!!). We walked into the house and met Tara's parents. Tara's mom had cooked traditional Irish stew with lamb, carrots, potato and onion. It was fantastic! Tara added brown bread with it, tho Tara's mom insisted that brown bread didnt go with this meal. I still had 3 slices! They served us Champaign, which I had a little of and it wasnt that bad. I could drink it without making a face! haha Then for dessert we had apple pie (no mom, not like yours. it was store bought, but still tasty). After that we had tea in the fancy tea set. We stuffed ourselves silly! We all would have eaten more had we had the room.

After this we went to meet Tara's friends at her regular pub. At first it was just the 4 of us, but slowly her group came in, and lastly Karla - our 5th and final member of our class - came with her boyfriend and some of his friends. It was fun. Everyone was so nice. One of Tara's friends got me up and dancing. Tara had described her as her 'wild' friend and she was funny. Everyone was. It was great craic! And it was a blast being out with our entire class. All of Tara's friends thought it was so funny that this was the whole course! Well, we finally left around 1:30am maybe and headed to "the chipper". That's where you get chips. Remember, in Ireland chips are Fries. We got in just as they were closing. I had a cheeseburger and chips with the garlic sauce, which is garlic mayo, and Oh My Gosh! that is some amazing sauce! So we walked back to Tara's house in the freezing early morning. We got in and I had a cup of tea, which was nice cuz it was so cold out! We had decided that if the weather was good, we would wake up at the break of dawn to see the sunrise. Well, around 7:15 (4 hours after we went to bed), before the sun came up, we decided it was too foggy, so we all went back to bed for a couple more hours. When we woke up again, Tara's dad was making a tradition Irish breakfast. We had eggs on toast, grilled tomatoes, bacon, sausage, and black and white pudding, along with hot tea and orange juice. This was a great breakfast. It was the best black pudding (the one that's filled with pig's blood) that I've had! Everything was so great!

Then lastly, Tara drove us around her town and we hit a couple of the beaches, tho it was still freezing cold and really foggy. So sad when the first thing we saw on the first beach was a dead seal! Aww so sad! The seaweed, tho, reminded me of the seaweed they use on The Secret of Roan Inis when the grandmother makes seaweed soup. We saw the last part of a house left standing, which was just the porch (the house had actually been destroyed because it was dangerous and kids were playing in it!) This was right by Tara's primary school. Then we went into Skerries, the next town over, where we saw the 3 islands which St. Patrick hopped from each one to the next one to the town of Skerries. Then Tara taught a little Irish dancing by the sea.

She left us off at the dart station and we road into the city center. Luckily this was the one that had my bus right outside, but I had to wait 20 minutes and it was freezing temperature. I was dying!! But I got my bus, which took me to the other side of town, so that was good. I arrived, uploaded my pictures, came on this blog, got the updates of the USC-CU game (Good game, Cocks!) and started working on my paper.

Checking in

So I've done a little research over the weekend. Not enough to have me writing anything yet. I've been the college kid, eating fake ramen and rice krispies. It's been cold wet and rainy. We havent had any floods like England has had, tho, so that's good. The Christmas lights have all gone up around the city. It's pretty. Seems a little early. And it's sad to me those of you (maybe none of you reading this), but those of you that I know in the states who already have Christmas trees and such. For those of you who get to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family, you should enjoy it. Dont skip it. Dont start Christmas and then have your Thanksgiving meal and day off, and not giving it the attention it deserves. For those of us in foreign countries who dont get to have Thanksgiving, I want to plead with everyone to remember it.

I saw the lights last night when I went with a couple of people from the CU to Immanuel church. It's not a regular looking church. It's a small building on the other side of the Liffey. The morning service has more families and older people and the night service is filled with college age kids. It was funny cuz the introductions guy told us he didnt know one song so if we knew it to sing out. Turns out that one was God of Wonders. Most of the people knew it. Then the pastor said at the end that he was also unfamiliar with our last song, which was Blessed be your name. Again, the people there seemed to know it. But i found it funny that these well known songs that have been out for years now still hadnt reached all the Christian community around the western world.

I guess I do get a day off this week, that would be Tuesday. But it's not to celebrate anything, anything other than a national strike. The school was still considering staying open as of yesterday but decided it may be best to close - hey thanks, so that those of us who have to take the bus, which wont be running, and instead would have to walk the 1.5 hr walk thru the cold rain to school will now get to stay dry! Plus, it's my long day, so it'll be nice to try to sleep in and continue my research and paper writing. I plan on getting a lot done tomorrow. But it's a union strike. None of the busses will be going. We will have bare minimal security here at hall from about 6pm tonight to Wed morning. There will be picket lines all around our school, making it that much more difficult to get in

Try to sleep in is the idea. But my back has been so bad. I didnt sleep 30 mins straight last night. I cant sleep on my back because it hurts too much. So I flip from side to side all night long, every so often, never super comfortable and still in a little pain even when on my sides. I think I got the most sleep this morning between 7 and 8 when i propped up all my pills and blankets and had this lounge chair thing going on in my bed. The last time I did that i ended up killing my neck and shoulders, but this time i was ok. Not digging the jacked up back, here! :-(

I rushed off to the bus this morning and got there in enough time to buy a danish before heading on to my first class. As the class was starting the film students let me and the other film music and theatre girls know that our original 10am class had been switched to Wed nights. Nice of them to share that after we stood in the hall with them for 15 mins. That was fine. A couple of us went to the library and I finally found the books I needed (or hopefully will need). Now I have a few online sources, a couple of handouts from class and 4 books. This afternoon and all tomorrow will see me reading about Irish women play wrights.

After this afternoon's reading, I will head back out to campus for our dress rehearsal for choir. We will get our robes or gowns or whatever and run thru the entire show with the orchestra and the soloists.

I have some busy weeks ahead of me. Right now we are on week 9. I will spend as much time during week 9 to finish my theatre paper. We turn that in next Monday, the day that house cleaning will come through our flat to make sure it looks proper (oh joy). Then all of week 10 will be spent in the national library and archives doing primary research for a presentation that is due in week 11. I havent even used my powerpoint yet, so I'll need time to reacquaint myself with the program. It is encouraged that this presentation be used as our primary research for our dissertation. That's a good idea if we need to do all this primary research, but that also means I'll need to know what my dissertation is in a week.

It's about 1pm so I have about 5 hours to work until I'll need to get ready to leave. I'm not quite in the mood. I just hafta push it and hopefully I'll get in the mood.

Music class

So I had choral society on Wed, it's our last week before the concert. We have two performances next week, but I havent been at the last 3 practices, so there were a few new songs. I will spend this weekend practicing my songs. Sorta got down Mozarts Requiem but i'm a little behind on Mass in C.

I stopped by the library but couldnt find the books I was looking for, so I'll do a little research in my room tonight and try again with the library tomorrow. Gotta get everything I need before the country goes on strike on Tuesday. I may be able to get into the actual school, as long as I can get by the picket lines, but I'll have to walk to campus cuz I wont be able to get a bus. But hey, that's cool, I get a day off from my busiest day and extra time to work on my paper.

Today I had a great Ireland and Music class. We had a harpist come in and talk about the original Irish harp, not like the harp they try to throw on us these days. It's a pretty impressive harp. The harp I got to play a little is a replica of the one in the Long Library at Trinity where you find the Book of Kells. Our harpist had recreated this metal strung harp after the oldest harp so far known to man, which dates back to pre 900ad! Because it's so much smaller than other harps, then the bass notes have to be more dense (thicker). If it was a larger harp, like the ones the other girls are playing, then the denseness comes from the length. But if the string is thicker, it will be harder to pluck. Soooo, they had the bass notes made of gold strings. The middle notes are silver and the highest notes are brass. It was pretty incredible to hold and play. Dad, thought you would get a kick out of it.

The harpist also mentioned that besides her strings are so incredibly expensive, only 3 have broken in the last 10 years, and when her strings break, she can melt them down and make new strings. But she's figured out that she'll spend less than a guitarist who's strings break regularly and who's strings are worthless after they break. Interesting thought.

Just something quick

Today was cold. And wet. Gotta love it. I decided that it was time to invest in a Trinity sweatshirt, so instead of waiting for my bus, I went across the street and started trying on sweatshirts. I also bought gloves, since I lost my pair somewhere in Central Europe. I could have gone for a hat too, as my purple knit hat is getting a little frizzy. It's been well worn these past few months!

I turned in my paper yesterday. We have to turn in two hard copies and submit it online but the online thing wasnt working. Finally the prof got it working around 3pm yesterday, and saying that it was 'supposed' to be in by 5, you can imagine that most didnt get to that. But he was cool. Our prof is laid back, not worried. He could see that every student, but one, made profiles on this site, so he figured out that we all had at least tried to submit our essays. I submitted it this afternoon.

But thats not the end, folks, since we have our Theatre essay due in 1.5 weeks :-( Gotta get working on that. Our prof mentioned that she would be talking about our essay topics in class tomorrow. I've got an idea, and i can stem out from there if she doesnt think it will work. This is one of our essays that was supposed to be due after Christmas. That's fine. I'll do it. I'm just worried that at the end of this 2 weeks, they'll spring it on us that our Music essay will be due 2 weeks after that! And that wont be good cuz we have our 10 minute power point presentation with research from strickly primary sources due at the end of the semester. I need time to focus on that, so hopefully they wont be cruel and make the music one due earlier too!

So it got dark about 4pm today. That's nuts! Is it getting dark that soon on the east coast too?? When I was on the bus on the way home at 4:30, i felt like it should be 7:30. So bizarre!

Oh well, I still have two Oscar Wilde plays to read tonight: The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome. Havent started either one of them and it's a half 7 (7:30 in Irish talk)! So we need to start on that! I made chix fettuccine last night, enough for a whole family, which works for me cuz I'll get at least 4 nights out of it, so I've got my food for the week!!

On Sunday night LeeAnn and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe looking for and longing for nice American food in celebration of finishing our first paper. It's all the same, right? All the Hard Rocks? Nope... We had onion rings with bbq sauce - this country doesnt serve ranch dressing with anything. Shocked? Me too. They must not understand how great ranch goes with onion rings! Then I had mixed meat fajitas. They gave me 5 tortilla shells. I had 6 pieces of meat. something wrong there? The gaucamole tasted different - how can that be different? It's avocado right? (No, Aunt Barb, I didnt take your avocado.) But the texture was different. And the sour cream was basically a thicker version of milk. Crazy right? I ate it, but it wasnt the same. Then we shared a brownie sundae, which was actually really tasty! Oh well, so much for the hope of American food! I already have my list of American foods I'm gonna hit when I'm home. Miyos, probably the first night, if possible. A Papa Johns night in, with all sorts of varieties and choices. Out to Sandhills for Red Robin, milk shakes and endless fries with a great burger! A large firehouse hook and ladder with Gamecock hot sauce. Outback including salad and wings. And the list goes on!

Ok, enough talking about food. I need to get plane tix, but I'm thinking i'll be home about a week before Christmas. That's the goal as of now :-)

Vienna

So after a quick stop in Hallstadt, we caught a train to Vienna. Once we got off at the train stop, then we had to find the correct subway to catch, and then we had to track down a taxi after that just to make our way to the hotel. When we settled down, we headed back out. We it took us an hour or so just to catch the local bus into town. The fun part is when you dont know where into town that you want to go and you dont know how to tell the bus driver where it is you want to go and once you two come up with an idea, you dont know when to get off the stop cuz city buses dont have signs telling you where you are... Oh well. Then we we got off (you realize that early afternoon, cold and rainy, it's pretty dark), you wander around the first street you guess to walk down. We never really knew what it was we were looking at. I was a little miserable walking around that afternoon and the next day (especially the next day when I was carrying a heavy bag and pulling my new luggage on wheels). I was ready for the trip to be done. I would perk up every time we got to go inside bars and coffee houses. But I was tired, sore, worn out, cold, in pain, all the bad feelings. We'd sit down in some place warm and stay in for a while. I will say, the food was good! I had this dark chocolate cappuccino and the traditional and even better tasting apple strudel with vanilla sauce, and then, apparently, on the day of Nov 11, it is necessary to have goose. So I had unbelievable goose in a fabulous sauce. I was stuffed!!! But the food was wonderful. That was in the Mozart Cafe. We wandered around the rest of the afternoon until going to the airport. The city was nice. We just didnt get great weather, which is unfortunate when you're lugging around heavy baggage. I think there would be a good amount of things to do, but we pretty much just did some looking from the outside. That was fine. At that point, like I said, I was ready to go home anyways. When we got to the airport, I did get myself Vienna sausages! Haha. You know I love my vienna sausages, but it's not the same thing! Haha. It was very tasty.

Over all, I never got a chance to go to a nice restaurant to have great food. But I did get some good food. It's just a shame that we couldnt do that. And as you've figured out, I wasnt a fan of carrying my luggage constantly and have not the best transportation over all. I prefer the tour bus and next time I will look into that instead. What I looked at was cool and the food was pretty good. The few things we got to do were cool. And I'd definitely go again. Even in cold rainy weather. It was pretty and enjoyable minus the hardships! haha...

The pictures are just pictures of things I saw outside.

near Hallstadt

We then took busses, several different busses, to get to Hallstadt, just to arrive to the town and LeeAnn mentions to the buss driver that we needed the next town over, so heading to that town was a bit of a mistake, but the bus driver was kind enough to call us a taxi, since there was no other bus to get there. I covered the taxi (see what I'm saying? Might as well have taken a bus tour with all the extra expensives I encountered). We arrived at 6pm, pitch dark, may as well have been 1am. We arrived to our lake front hotel, but since there were no restaurants or any other businesses other than the train station down the road, there wasnt much to do. LeeAnn and I had both smartly picked up a pastry before we left Salzburg, and that ended up being our dinner. Yum yum! We spent about 15 or 30 mins walking around the town in the dark. I had my pretty pink umbrella that has a light on the bottom to lead us around. It was a little creepy but at the same time we felt safe. There was no one around and the area was so small. It wasnt exactly tourist season. I think we may have been the only ones in our hotel. Basically, we arrived, watched German speaking English shows on tv, went to bed, woke up, had a little breakfast, then caught the train to Vienna. In most of the hotels we were able to watch CNN International or BBC. But here was nothing but German on tv. So I watched the Simpsons in German, Family Guy, Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, even watched Damon Wayans show 'My Wife and Kids' but it was renamed 'What's Up Dad?'. Interesting, huh?

The Hills Are Alive....

Next city was Salzburg, Austria. That was a lovely transport. The train was the best. We rode 2nd class all the way, but this one felt like 1st class! :-) It was like a train. There was the video screen that showed where we were going, when we'd arrive; there was a car for the food and bar area, and there was an information desk on the train. It was nice.

We grabbed another taxi to take us to our hotel. Then we wandered around and did a little window shopping before going to a cool Mozart dinner and show. The music was beautiful and the food was great! We had soup served to us, then we had wonderful chicken and veggies, and lastly had frozen parfait. Between each course the period dressed musicians performed. It was an enjoyable night. We got to dress up a little, from what little we could bring along, but it was cool.

The next day we were picked up for the Sound of Music tour. It was really cool. It's an english speaking tour. We had Trudy as our tour guide, a cute older British woman who would sing along with Julie Andrews as the CD played. And she had the dry British humour that I found funny. I'd be the only person in that van laughing! Ha!

So we first went to the lake where the kids and Maria fall out of the boat. It was cool hearing about the stories and different takes that happened.

Next we went to the gazebo where they sang "16 going on 17". They filmed the gazebo from the outside but when it was time to film inside they had to do it in studio in order to fit the actors and the crew inside. And these days they wont allow the public inside the gazebo cuz a couple of years ago an 84 year old woman decided to go jumping and dancing inside and slipped and broke her hip, then tried to sue them for her stupidity. But since they dont do the suing thing in Austria then she didnt get anywhere.

I also saw the road where Maria went skipping down.

We stopped by the actual church where the real Maria was a nun. It's the picture with the red roof.

Next we went to the church where Maria in the movie got married.

We also found the garden when Maria and the kids sing Do-Re-Mi as they go skipping up the stairs and around the garden.

Along the way we passed by the Red Bull headquarters, which was funny. It's a glass building built on the lake. We also got the traditional apple strudel with vanilla sauce. I had that a few times. It's THE food to have if you're in Austria. I enjoyed it.

So that was a nice town. The trip went down a little after that for me, but Salzburg was fun and would have enjoyed hanging out a little longer.