Mission Statement/Mission Impossible?

It's cold and wet. Again. I feel as though I'm truly preparing myself for a life in the Pacific Northwest, should I ever want to go back. Also, it's Friday and I've decided that since I have a 3 day weekend, I should probably stop slacking and actually write a legitimate blog post. This is also a good reason to procrastinate a little more.

On the agenda this weekend (schoolwise): a completed response to the Writer's Workshop yesterday on Reviewing which means I'll be attempting to write a comedic short story about an author meeting a reviewer who hates the author's work. Typical plot, I know, but I want to try something funny. THEN, I'll attempt once again to write a poem from another poem, this one on happiness or celebration. It doesn't sound hard, but when you try to write it from another poem, holy cow. Not so fun anymore. After this I will write a review on a book I haven't written and discuss my strengths and weaknesses and then continue to write a piece stemming from an art exhibit that scared the bejesus out of me yesterday. To explain: the effect of multiple projectors in a darkened room playing silent film and photographs is creepy. When you put two t.v.'s at each end of the exhibit and the sound suddenly turns on without warning, that's terrifying. Especially when you're the only person there at 3 in the afternoon and it's drizzling (surprise) outside.

So, those are the more pressing assignments. Somewhere in there, I'll be in the library reading the hardest book of poetry to find ever and also reading criticism for said poems. The girl doing the presentation on this author (Eavan Boland) emailed us some suggested reading and said she was going to focus on the "victimization of women". I love feminist topics. Honestly, I do. Still, I'm going to make myself happy with an almond latte and maybe a scone. Interesting doesn't have to equal depressing, but we're definitely into depressing territory now.

That being said, I full intend to enjoy my weekend, rain or not. Unlike last weekend which was consumed by feeling awful (side note: there's a commercial for a cough syrup that shows the ugliest/cutest mucus thing that continues to attack people, almost like a puppy, it's hilarious), this weekend is going to be productive. I plan to do some shopping, a little exploring and a LOT of writing. Combine that with Geribody (aka Spice Girl) yoga and you've got yourself Allison in Ireland. Next weekend is Halloween and it looks like most of the friends I've made will be out of town, but never fear! Despite the fact that I have yet to come up with a costume, my early friends, the international kids, will be around, so I'm sure fun will be had. I'm also planning on venturing up to Kylemore Abbey and the Connemara area next weekend to look at gardens and cottages and castles turned to religious purposes. Until then, I'll be baking and eating and studying. Life is good.

Makeover!

Yesterday I got an e-mail from my dear Summer J. Brown. Allison, it said, I've made you a new blog header, if you like it, we'll skype and I'll talk you through the html codes. Well, this conversation basically turned into the usual exchange, with me being hopelessly inept at technology and SJB working her magic without my help. Then, knowing I would never make the blog look any better, she offered a full blog makeover. Ladies and Gents, this is the result of maybe thirty minutes of the talented SJB's time. I hope you enjoy it!

A quick life update

This past weekend and week beginning have been alternatively exciting and uneventful. I did end up going to the Fiction Slam on Friday and reading. I didn't pass out, thank goodness, but my knees were shaking! In fact, a friend from class, the super talented Sarah Griffin won the whole competition and a bottle of wine! All in all, it was a successful night, minus the nose congestion. I walked home and promptly went to bed, feeling pretty rough, but not awful. That came on Saturday. Miserable is the word that comes to mind. The boys had a friend visiting and they made me drink a whiskey and go to bed. Have I mentioned my roommates are awesome?

Anyhow, Sunday was much better, complete with a depressing but compelling book for Irish Women's Literature and... a Hugh Grant chick flick. Notting Hill never gets old. Monday, of course, was poetry class. As usual, it was amazing, even if I couldn't really breathe because my head cold was now a chest cold, but still! Today was fiction and it was more interesting than usual. I always love talking about readings for class, but since it's a fiction workshop, I'd rather we talk about what we're working on, and we almost got there today.

This evening, I made scones with crystallized ginger. I have to say, they're pretty tasty. I may even attempt yoga tonight in my newfound industriousness. I may sound like a man, but I don't feel as bad as I sound. Now, it's off to read a few articles for tomorrow's class!

A Gentleman and A Scholar? To Be Determined

As a special request, I'm writing this blog about my roommate, Ryan. You see, Ryan is paranoid that I spend my entire blog writing about him. In fact, he may even think I write all of my stories about him. So, I'm dedicating this entire blog to dear Ryan Kelly, just so that he can say he's right (he loves being right).

When I first arrived in Ireland, I obviously had no idea what to expect and hoped I would luck out and have great roommates. Clearly, this has been the case(yay Kasha and Noel!), but a special word about Ryan. We call him "The Professor" he's such a serious seeming boy, studying Classics and English. Some mornings, you can find him with his cup of coffee or tea, listening to the news and reading the paper. I mean, what else can you call a twenty year old who reads Plato and Wordsworth and enjoys it AND is up on current events? According to our dear Noel, Ryan doesn't particularly like this, but it's fitting and I think it has a ring to it. Ryan, you'll thank me later in life. In some ways, he reminds me of (brother) Phil because he can be quiet and serious and then joke around, when he wants to, that is.

Our dear Ryan loves his football(soccer) and in fact, has a cousin who's currently playing for the Ireland 19 and Under team. You can hear him sighing in agony over an awful play or letting out yelps of delight when something good happens. You can also find him in the back garden kicking around the soccer ball he stole from the street on any given evening. It's all rather endearing. Just like Phil, you probably should give him space when his team loses. I'm telling you, dear readers, it's like having a little brother around, he even shares his popcorn and makes me tea sometimes. Though he doesn't giggle or call me when he has a joke to share. I do miss that.

Though he may be paranoid, chivalry is not dead in Ireland. It's true, I've called him a mean spirit (and he is when he decides to cease conversation prematurely or scare unsuspecting people in another room, cough cough), but both he and Noel agree that the man should walk closest to the oncoming cars, so they would get hit first instead of the girl. And let's not overlook the fact that they did buy me a Hannah Montana birthday cake, despite the fact that I'm 25 and no one over the age of twelve should ever request a cake like that. So this is just a little appreciation for Professor Ryan Kelly for all of his paranoid, sometimes gruff and well meaning ways. Rest assured, living with these boys (we can't forget Noel, these two are a bromance for the ages), I won't get run over by a car or ever have to go without tea, and I might learn something about football (soccer) while I'm here. They even do the dishes! So is it far to say Ryan Kelly deserves this dedicated blog post? Perhaps so or perhaps not, but it'll make him blush anyhow and to me, that's a job well done :).

A is for Academics

It's definitely a hot chocolate kind of day. A hot beverage of any kind really. Also, I suppose it's technically night here as well. I slept pretty late today and then headed off to class to discuss incestuous rape, contraception and abortion. You know, just a light hearted topic for today's class discussion. We were reading "Down by the River" by Edna O'Brien. It's a really hard book to read and also a hard book to put down. The book is loosely based on the 1992 X Case in Ireland. Really interesting stuff. Edna O'Brien herself is interesting, I'm going to have to read more of her.

In other news, our poetry assignment this week is to write a poem about an animal without giving it human characteristics. Yikes. For fiction we have to take an experimental structure and write a story within that structure. For example, we could use a calendar or letters. I'm going to write a fake biography, complete with fake interviews. At least, I hope. Tomorrow, I have my second meeting with Eva about my poetry. So cross your fingers that it goes well.

This weekend, there's a Fiction Slam at the Spanish Arches. I'm definitely going but I'm not sure if I'm going to read anything. I've never done one before! Either way it should be fun. At the end of the month, Herbie Hancock is going to be at the Cork Jazz Festival, so I just MIGHT check that out. We'll see. For now, I'm off to make that hot chocolate and write!

Yes, I'm Still Alive

I know it's been a week since my last post. I promise nothing that exciting has happened. The first semester is halfway over and it feels like I just got here. There's so much left to be done! And here I wasted my weekend sleeping and doing nothing in particular. We have our second meetings with Eva on Thursday, so that's something to look forward to I hope. This afternoon consists of writing a story for Fiction class, doing a little poetry work and enjoying the sunshine and lack of really strong wind. It might also involve a bit of sleep, cleaning up around the place and cooking dinner. See what I mean about exciting?

Nonetheless, I'm having fun and I'm really glad I'm here (especially when it's not raining). I hope I'm learning something as well. And speaking of that, I'm going to write for class now. I promise adventures will be forthcoming!

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip

Note to self: When traveling somewhere you've never been before, get a map. Also, bring along a snack, just in case. Popcorn doesn't count. When a relative stranger offers to buy a drink, accept gracefully and order food. Never ever accept a second offer of drink before eating food, and especially don't get on a boat afterwards thinking an apple counts as food. It doesn't.

The people on Inis Oirr (Inisheer) are really nice. The island is so small that everyone knows you're not a native but they wave to you anyway (or in the case of one of the men I passed on tractors, shakes his head as he passes you the second time). I woke up early on my Friday off (I love how this works out) and walked into town. As soon as I see the bus to the ferry, rain starts to pour. I mean, this was violent. I duck under an arch and think to myself, "Why didn't I buy an umbrella yesterday and bring my scarf today? I'm going to be miserable." I headed towards the ticket office anyway when the rain let up and got my boarding passes and then waited in line. It rained off and on during the bus ride. Outside it was freezing, I literally shivered as I boarded the ferry. A slightly wild looking man asked if I had a waterproof jacket and looked at me doubtfully. This couldn't be good. Nonetheless, I found a seat and settled in. I like boats and I like water. I don't like being cold, but it wasn't as if we were going to get splashed, we had windows protecting us. And so we started off. The ferry wasn't very crowded. This ferry went to Inis Oirr (the smallest of the islands) and Inis Meain (Inishmaan), the most deserted. Another ferry took those who were going to Inishmor, the largest and most tourist frequented, and I'm sure it was crowded. In fact, I think pretty much the entire bus went to that ferry except for me.

If anyone gets motion sickness, you would have thrown up on the boat ride over. The end of September isn't exactly tourist season because the weather starts to turn towards the winter. The wind is strong and the rains frequent. I felt like I was on one of those carnival rides that swings you up and down and on and on. It was rather fun. After awhile though, it felt like I was being rocked, so I just laid my head on my knees and napped a bit. I woke up to see an old man sitting next to me. He grabbed my arm and asked, "Do you know where you're going?". I said no, I figured I'd just roam around, the island wasn't that large. So he proceeded to tell me where everything was on the island in his curious accent (It sounded more scottish than irish). Then says "So now you know" and walked off. Then the boat landed and I found myself on the island with almost 5 hours to kill.

The first thing I did was buy an apple, a juicebox, a mini bag of popcorn (seriously, if you don't like plain popcorn and cheese and onion chips, you're so screwed), and a bottle of water. Then I set off against the wind, uphill towards a castle I'd seen. I never got there. The entire island is covered in stone fences and the roads are like mazes. After a brief, light shower, the sun came out and the day turned gorgeous. There was a rainbow and then, sunshine. The wind was ridiculous, but what can you expect when you're on an island that you can walk completely around in 3 hours. I don't know where I went, but as I tried to get to the castle, I found myself on the other side of the island. I ran into a girl walking her dogs (a giant black dog and a yippy jack russell looking character) and that was it, for at least an hour or more. I saw a lighthouse and found myself talking to cows and watching the waves beat up against the shoreline. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it. On my way back to the other side of the island, I met a man I'd seen on the ferry coming out of a house. Turns out, his Granna lives there and he was incredibly friendly. He told me to go to the other end of the island (long ways) to see the shipwreck that's in the opening credits of Father Ted. Also, the church next to Granna's house is apparently used in the t.v. series as well. Who knew? So off I went again, I found the ship wreck and also the graveyard (the scottish guy told me about this) with the sunken church in the center. This sounds creepy, but it was my favorite part. I walked down into the Church and sat on part of the stone wall and just, rested, for awhile.

On my way back down the hill, I ran into two people I'd seen on the ferry. Turns out, they were from Boston and heading to the pub. I figured I'd join them since the pub most likely served food and I was getting pretty hungry. Except, I didn't get any food. Instead, my new friend Chris bought everyone a drink. Then, Chris, Holly and I met Margaret. An island local. She bought us another round. There was much talk about the Irish language and Irish music and Christy Moore performing in Killarney in April (apparently, I'm going to this). Then I had to leave to catch the boat, so off I went, happy to have made new friends.

The old scottish man hugged me when I got back on the boat. I ate an apple before boarding and hoped it would soak up the beer. This didn't happen. Still, I sat on the top of the ferry all the way to Inis Meain enjoying the salt, the sun and wind. The second part of the journey was longer and I found myself wishing I had a loaf of bread or something as I nestled down in my seat below. I fell asleep and woke up to find that the mainland was freezing and I still felt a little boat sick. The bus ride back was mainly quiet and I decided I'd splurge on a cab to get home, especially since I'd spent 3 euro the entire day, a journey day no less! I met a pleasant lady from Vancouver on the bus and we talked about islands for the rest of the trip. When we were leaving, a french guy woke up from his nap and asked if I knew where we were. "Is this the end?", he asked.

I walked up the row of cabs until a found one with an older man as a driver. Without thinking, I said "Would you like to take me home?" to which he laughed and said "If only this were 40 years ago!" My cab driver was a former fisherman and he told me that winter is indeed on its way quickly. He knows these things. He's studied the weather for years. He also knew a shortcut home, cutting an 8 to 10 euro trip down to 6. SIX! He asked about Virginia and West Virginia and I told him the 460 East joke. That got a chuckle. All in all, I'd say my day trip was a success. I drowned my stuffy nose in pizza and curled up in my blankets and fell asleep. I woke up today thinking there was a kitten in our house and ended up cleaning my room and sending in Monday's assignments for class. I also bought some vitamins (well vitamin c and zinc) tablets. I'd say today was a success too. Now I'm off to clean the kitchen. I hope.