Ireland Day 19 - Dominos

Not a lot of pictures today, but we did eat Dominos! I had a buy one get one free coupon that I was anxious to use. Emily arrived in town today, YAY! So we had a girls night in watching Friends, Coach Carter and then Sex in the City while we chowed down on pizza. They arrange the pepperonis here. That was a funny surprise.

They arrange them per slice!

Today was sort of low-key, sort of. Maybe I just think that because I didn't make a lot of on-the-spot updates. Let's review!

Wake up! Go into town. I made a very special shoe swap (Geraldine let Maisa borrow flats so she didn't have to wear heels to the club) and hung out with Owen. We had lunch with Geraldine on her lunch break (they're so cute) and then walked around the square. We ran into Catherine at one point and that was kind of funny. I haven't just ran into someone I knew since I've been here. A little surreal.

I had some errands to run, including getting my wedding shots to Brad and scheduling my tattoo appointment :O I took in a few pictures and was very specific about what I wanted. He didn't write anything down, just a very brief description. I'll see what they draw up and obviously if I don't like it I'll have them change it. August 11th! I'm excited. I know everyone is just so curious to know what it'll be, but surprises are a good thing.

Catherine is lovely inside AND outside ;)

I've been listening to my playlist I made yesterday all day today. I even took my headphones out onto the bus with me! Made things a little more interesting. It was a good time walking around with Owen. Got to know him a bit better. Woohoo for friends! Oh, no restaurants here seems to use sliced cheese, it's all grated. Note to Ireland: it is very difficult to eat a sandwich when the cheese is flying everywhere.

Emily arrived via bus around 2:45 so we met her at the station. I was so excited to see her again! She's awesome. We mosied around and met up with Maisa. Commence more exploring! I didn't take out my camera once because I'm an idiot. A lazy one. Oh well. Just carried around a gradually heavy backpack for no reason. I'm going to be so strong after this trip.

We caught the bus back to the house and hung out over with Catherine for the rest of the night. Today was a good day, relaxing and full of friends (both real people and the TV show! :B)

Moulding around the fireplace at Miriam's.

Tomorrow the girls and I are going to The Cliffs of Moher! Hot damn, I am excited. The video camera is charging and the camera battery is going on next! AHH! The bus leaves at 10:15 and I believe arrives back in town at 5 or 5:30. That's a lot of cliff-y goodness! We also go to The Burren. Mr Martin McDonagh insists I have to go, so I'll be thinking of him while I'm there :)

-------------

10:22 am: home: The weather here is too unpredictable. It said rain and fog so I decided not to go to the Aran Islands. Now sunny and rain? Ugh.

11:24 am: home: Wearing pants that are slightly damp.

12:20 pm: 33 bus: The guy in front of me on the bus has a piercing on the back of his neck.

12:44 pm: Outside of Geraldine and Owen's place: Watching a "clamping" officer trying to determine if he can ticket a parked car.

-MJ

Ireland Day 13 - A Change of Plans

I'm oddly sleepy for 4 in the afternoon. This morning I woke up and didn't feel like going on a bus tour. Before deciding for sure that I had changed my mind, I checked to make sure it wouldn't mess up my entire travel plans. Fortunately, it did not. So today, instead, I went to town, exchanged my broken zippered sweatshirt, took a video of Shop Street, had lunch and then went for a walk down part of The Prom again. The weather changed rapidly from astonishingly beautiful, to overcast, to rainy and unpleasant and then back to partly cloudy with mostly sunny skies. It's thinly overcast at the moment. No weather type seems to last for very long here.

It was a challenge, but I managed to take a fair amount of pictures and do quite a bit of video while I was out. I loaded my backpack with necessary items and continued to rotate through them as the situation required. I dabbled with the idea of going to the aquarium, but I had already spent money on lunch and a CD, so perhaps another time. Instead I admired the ocean from a little remembrance park and met up with Dave for a few minutes after he was done at school. When something is good he says it's "class", which I find funny. I've never heard people say that before. I've heard of something being a  "class act", but never something just being "class". Classy! But not class. Lack of class... not class. I don't know. I learn something new everyday. Oh, and he says that no one here says "neat". Also silly, in my opinion, because it's a great word! I was telling him what a neat guy Martin McDonagh was, and he made sure to let me know that no one says that word xD

Lunch was an interesting time. I finally ate at Neactain's. It was very quiet when I got there and I wasn't entirely sure what the ordering process was. No one said anything to me, but I guess I did something right when I approached the counter with a menu in hand. Everyone was very nice. I ate potato and leek soup. There was a pasta offering but it sounded a bit heavier than I wanted. I also had a coke. It was €2.40, something I didn't realize until after I had consumed it, which is a bit steep if you ask me. It was one of the most delicious cokes I've ever had though, maybe that has something to do with it. The soup was OK, I think a little more sophisticated than I'm used to. I finished it though!

Neactain's was playing some fantastic Irish music so I began asking the employees who it was/what is was. One of the bartenders, a man named Steve, started talking to me about Irish music and feeling me out for which types I liked. He then wrote down a few different artists on a piece of paper and heavily recommended the Waterboys. He asked if I'd heard of them and I said no. He replied with, "You're lucky" and I asked, "Are they bad?" and he said, "No they're fantastic. I'd love to experience them for the first time again". After that I went around the corner to HMV and bought the only album they had by them; a greatest hits from '81-'90. I'm very excited to listen to it. Steve also gave me an EP from a guy that works there named Emmet. I actually met Emmet last week when Brad took me out for a pint. He's moving to London this year, I believe music, so that's great for him! I mentioned this to Steve and he was surprised and told me to tell Brad that he says hello. Such lovely people here in Ireland :)

I'm getting hungry. I wonder what's for dinner? Miriam bought me some peanut butter. It even says "American Style" on the container! That made me laugh. I had toast this morning and it was delicious. I think tomorrow I'll try out a hot chocolate from Butlers Chocolate Cafe, the supposed masters of hot cocoa here in Galway. Fingers crossed that it does not disappoint. I'm going to watch Harry Potter now, me thinks.

Oh wait! At the bus stop this morning I met a French guy named Pierre. He's visiting some friends here in Ireland. I guess he hasn't been here in quite some time because he fell out of contact with a bunch of people he met in '95. Through the magic of Facebook he found them again and is making the rounds in Ireland to reconnect everyone. How great is that? We continued to chat on the bus and he asked if I knew anyone in Paris (since I told him I'd be there for a weekend) and I said no. He offered to meet me for a drink while I'm there if I'm looking for someone to chat with. Very nice of him! I took his e-mail address and I'll be contacting him before I fly out in August. Look at me, makin' friends on the other side of the world!

Ok, toast and Harry Potter time!

-----------------

10:52 am: home: It's a gorgeous day. I think I'll walk The Prom again.

11:08 am: bus stop: The weather changes very rapidly here, even more than back home. It's strange.

11:39 am: Shop Street: Met a very nice French man from Paris named Pierre at the bus stop. We had a good conversation and he gave me his e-mail address in case I wanted someone to go out and have a drink with when I'm there for the weekend. :)

12:32 pm: Shop Street: 90% sure I just picked out my new tattoo design.

12:43 pm: Neactain's: Having lunch at Neactain's, finally. Potato and leek soup with bread. There is something strangely comforting about drinking a coca cola.

1:52 pm: A park: Sitting, passing time and enjoying the ocean.

-MJ

Ireland Day 11 - Inception

Lots to report today! And maybe I'll finally get around to posting the rest of my pictures from two days ago >.>

I just typed that I have a lot to report but I'm suddenly drawing a blank. Perhaps if I start with waking up I'll do alright. I am so hungry right now, tummy is grumbling.

Once again I amazed myself by waking up and feeling fine after the whisky last night. When I drink I just feel incredibly hungry the next day. I was tired, I got about five hours of sleep. Caught the 11:15 bus without incident and away I went! The internship went well, as I was arriving Brad was about to do a family photo shoot. The kids were about 9-16, so not the babies and toddlers that he normally works with. It was great to watch him pose/prepare the photos and the way he created rapport with the family. He dashed off after that to teach a class though, so I edited through the photos and left a note for him saying I'm sure he wants to check my work ;) then I practiced maneuvering the octo-softbox so I don't have an embarrassingly difficult time when there's a customer in the studio. He managed to get everything back up and running after my electric crisis from yesterday. He's a very relaxed and calm, fantastic boss. I hope some of that cool level-headedness will transfer over to me!

Rothar!

I sent Dave a text asking if he wanted to hang out during my lunch break and he said sure (hurray for company!). He arrived promptly at 2:30, which surprised me because I thought the Irish were notoriously late! We walked to the Spanish Arch and I ate my lunch there like a real Irish youth would. Ahh, genuine experiences. It was overcast but not raining, a little windy but not bitter, not too bright either. A nice time to be out. I brought my camera but was too befuddled with my lunch to take any photos. Afterwards we found our houses on Google Maps for fun. I pointed out my car and Jake's car, it was exciting and creepy. I also showed him where the fabulous downtown Poulsbo was. I pulled up my house here in Ireland too. It was nice to get an aerial reference just for myself. Before he left he showed me two browser games: one called Chaos Faction 2 and another called Kingdom of Loathing. I didn't have the chance to check them out because I was at work! So I sent the links to myself. I have tomorrow off, perhaps I'll do so then.

The rest of my shift passed with almost nothing happening, except for the four year old falling down the escalator D: "Fear and respect the escalator". I'm sure she will now. She'll also always listen when her mom tells her to stay close and hold her hand!

I was all alight with excitement after work because we finally went and saw Inception! Our humble group of 3 or 4 grew from Dave's friend Tara inviting lots of people. The more the merrier! It was absolutely incredible, I'm glad so many people showed up! The theatre was packed. It was very muffled, too. I had the impression of being in an incredibly large, cushy, dark velvet box. It's like even the walls were lined with fabric. Everyone here is so quiet too, there weren't groups of chatter going on.

There were many interesting things of note regarding the theatre in Ireland. I will list them here:

-Nothing is playing when you walk in.
-Advertisements like on TV start playing on the nose of the show time.
-After that, movie trailers are shown.
-The screen then goes black, the lights come on, and someone changes the reel. (That was by far the strangest thing)
-Movie starts
-No one takes their trash with them and the floor was awfully sticky.

The chairs were extremely comfortable, they even reclined a bit! I was practically on the edge of my seat the whole movie anyway.

I am here now, hungry and tired, and I haven't edited any of my photos yet! I may post just one and then use my day off tomorrow to post the rest from today and from two days ago all at once :3 I have Monday and Tuesday off. I think on Tuesday I'll go on a tour!

Oh, also, I now know how to walk from Knocknacarra Park to Eyre Square. I saw the pram (prom?) today for the first time too, it runs along the water and through Salthill. Dave drove us back to our house and he took that route. It was very enjoyable for me, I was able to see and smell the ocean! There's an aquarium here that I may visit. Hmm!

Oh oh! When we got home Steve was here so we were chatting for a little bit. He gave me some great tips on photography locations in town that aren't on the super duper crowded streets, and he shared some good pubs to go if I want to take some portraits. He's very nice, I'm sad he's not around more.

Alright, I'm tired.

------------------

11:15 am: bus stop: I am heavily annoyed this morning. Hope that goes away.

11:28 am: 33 bus: Pretty much just jumped onto a moving bus; he was at a rolling stop when I got on. The bus drivers here are crazy.

12:03 pm: Photo One: Brad got everything back up and running! Hurrah!

4:29 pm: Photo One: I feel like a jerk! I keep forgetting to let Miriam know when I won't be home for dinner :( she's so sweet, I have to be more considerate than this.

4:56 pm: Photo One: A little girl just fell down the escalator. Brad warned me that it happens, he said it was usually the elderly. A male passerby scooped her up and gave her to her mom.

5:31 pm: Walking: I'd really like a phone card, but $1.75/minute to USA? Are you kidding me?

5:56 pm: Shop Street: More people smoke here than back home.

6:48 pm: Movie Theatre: Waiting to see Inception, finally. This theatre is super muffled, it's kind of freaking me out. Comfy seats though.

9:41 pm: Movie Theatre: Inception was better than words can describe. I'm very satisfied with my decision to see it in Ireland. The movies are a bit different here too! All in all, a great experience!

-MJ