On Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh castle dominated much of the cityscape, and was very nice. A bit intimidating, really, but great to visit. It was built on the top of an old volcanic protrusion, and the gate is on the eastern side. The main road then wraps its way in a spiral-like fashion and goes through a series of four gates, and finally brings you to the top. The rock that it's built on is, in my opinion, cooler even than the castle, but the combination is incredible. Imagine trying to plan a sneak attack. Inside are several museums, and tours are done (I believe) hourly and free of charge. Admission, however, is a hefty £11. But it's well worth the money, and if you make sure to visit every possible corner like I did, you can spend hours inside and get the most from your money.

On P.S. I Love You

It's a BIG DEAL as it's set in Ireland and I had to listen to the girls in front of me discuss the plotline in depth on the plane ride from Shannon to Edinburgh. For more info, go to the official site. I'll probably see it when I'm back in Ireland just since, heck, I'll be in Ireland and why not?

On Recycling

A friend of theirs is a bartender at one of the pubs downtown, which is how the 3L vodka bottle came to be at our house. Pretty cool, huh?




Only brown glass is recycled here (so no paper, no aluminium, no plastic, no clear glass - basically only beer bottles).

On Crunchy Nut Feast Cereal

"Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Feast Chocolate Curls take the irresistible taste of Crunchy Nut to a new dimension.

"Tantalising every tongue with their ludicrously tasty clusters of oats, wheat and corn, wrapped in sumptuous honey and nuts and combined with delicious milk chocolate curls."

- Kellogg's website

On A Charlie Brown Christmas

We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" tonight online (we used YouTube here, here, and here - it's in parts). Exams are now done, and I'm letting myself sleep in tomorrow. It's been days since I've woken up after 07.20 and weeks since I've woken up after 08.00. Which wouldn't be so bad except I usually stay up 'til 12 or so. Or so meaning those nights I can't fall asleep until nearly 3. And I finally learned how to say Herzegovina thanks to the efforts of my roommate.

On GMIT

Tomorrow at 14.30 I have my final exam (for oceanography - wish me luck!). Monday's was again at the Galway Race Course, today's was at a theatre not far from here, and tomorrow's will be in the GMIT Sports Arena. GMIT is, I believe, the technical school around here. It's actually quite close, though everyone seems to think it a ways.

On The James Hardiman Library

NUIG has one central library (they also have one for medical and nursing students, I believe, though over with the hospital), the James Hardiman Library. To see what the inside looks like, here are maps of the ground floor, first floor, and second floor (see the "Pure Sciences" area? that's where my books are for botany and oceanography, and that's where I go to study). To see what the exterior looks like (and to give you a feel for just how terribly small the place is), NUIG put up a wannabe-impressive photo of the place here. As it says, "The Library provides 8,500 square metres of space on three floors and contains approximately 1,600 reader places. Collections exceed 620,000 bound volumes with 50% of these on open access shelves." I guess they've never seen Madison's library system. Madison has the 11th largest research collection in North American with over 40 libraries and with, they say,

• More than 7.3 million printed volumes
• 55,000 serial titles
• 6.2 million microforms
• 160 linear feet of manuscripts
• Over 7 million items in other formats, including government documents, maps, musical scores and more

So I guess that's that. Easy to see which I prefer and why. The one thing I like about this library though, is when you're going for easy studying, they have huge windows on every side that are pretty to look out of. My favorite library, Memorial library, is the largest in Wisconsin.

On The Late Late Toy Show

For those of you not in Ireland, you probably missed the Late Late Toy Show. To watch it, go here. Basically, it tells you everything you need to know about the coolest gifts out there. For information on the toys, go here.

On December In Ireland

In December, the average temperature in Galway ranges from 2-8C. There are approximately 24 days with precipitation (so far we've had 7), and on average the city receives 122mm of of rain. Today the sun rose at 08.36 and set at 16.19, giving us 07.43 hours of daylight. For information on traveling to Galway, read Wikitravel's article here. For a forecast of Galway's weather, see here. And finally, for information on holiday programming we're able to watch here, go here.

On The Galway Races

One class down, three to go. The exam was - Ali phrased this perfectly - brutal. It was held at the Galway Racecourse in Killanin Stand. Next week I'm in Millennium Stand. The racecourse is about half an hour by bus from campus, and we sit, well, in the betting rooms and study beside the barstools. My other two exams are at the Black Box and in GMIT's sports hall. There is only one location on campus, the rest we have to pay to get transportation across the city to. The weather has been atrocious lately; it's warm, but it rains on and off and almost constantly. Umbrellas are rarely usable as the wind is so strong one can hardly stand let alone handle an umbrella (fancy flying Mary Poppins style?). So if you by chance think perhaps the day might be nicer than the last or the one before that, and neglect to bring your rainjacket with you to college as I did today, when you walk the fifteen to twenty minutes home, you're guaranteed to be soaked through and through within the first two minutes. In the absence of the white of snow, we have an intense green that blankets everything. The grass is the brightest greenest green I have ever seen grass or just about anything to be. And now for a song, provided by YouTube (don't bother to watch it, it doesn't change) is the song Galway Races done by Luke Kelly.

On December

And when did it become December?? It still feels and looks like October, just with a lot more rain and wind.

And when did it become December??? It still feels and looks like October, just with a lot more rain and wind.

On Exams and Resulting Stress

It's that time of the year. My finals are Wednesday, next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And things are just about usual with them. My current major stress is stats, though I know I will do fine on that. I'm mostly worried because it's first and I won't do outstandingly, because no matter how hard I try, well, stats just sucks. In a more far-sighted view, oceanography is worst. Because it has the most physics and is the class I like least and am least good at. And I haven't gotten to study for it much because (oh joy), it's my last final and I have three beforehand.

Also though, stats is stressful because I just learned today that (they never announced this or made it apparent at any time, either, and I only learned through one of my housemates) graphing calculators are not allowed. And.. I don't know how to use non-graphing calculators or do the equations out by hand because I've never had to. I tried it out though by guessing and I got it right on my guess! (It's because actually it's very straightforward, I was just worried because everyone had all these long equations memorized.. and yet I figured it out based on logic.. so not sure about that but it DID work for me!).

On Emailing

NUIG uses a form of SquirrelMail as their emailing system. SquirrelMail, I learned from Wikipedia, has a logo "Webmail for nuts". And it's true, you'd have to be nuts to use it. It doesn't organize well, isn't user friendly, and just even looks archaic. Perhaps some or all of this is due to NUIG's use of the program (my opinion of technology use and support here is very, very low), but basically, the system sucks and is generally inaccessible. So please never email that account - I check it possibly more than my gmail account, but pretty close to never (which is bad because occasionally the school will send out an email - everyone texts here though so usually it's not even necessary to use that account).

On The Sun

It was sunny today for about half an hour. I'd forgotten how lovely it gets when the sun's out. It's never genuinely sunny - it's always a cool distant sort of sunny, not like on those days when you look out and can just feel the blacktop melting, but it's painting pretty. But then it rained again, and then got dark. Such is life I guess.

On The Future

Christmas is less than a month away, and exams are even sooner.

On My Favorite Part of the Service

The Agnus Dei in Irish:

A Uain Dé, a thogann peacaí an domhain,
Trócaire, trócaire, dean trórcaire orainn.
A Uain Dé, a thogann peacaí an domhain,
Trócaire, torcaire, dean trócaire orainn.
A Uain Dé, a thogann peacaí an domhain,
Síocháin, síocháin, tabhair dúinn síocháin.

On Eurovision

So, after last year's spectacular finish at last place, Ireland decided to "look again at the strategy for selecting Ireland's entry" and "for that purpose RTÉ assembled a consultative committee of interested parties from the music writing, music performance and dance arts, to assist RTÉ in the review." To read more on their attempts to regain their dignity, you can visit their page inviting you to compete here. For more information on Eurovision, you can visit Eurovision's homepage here. Ireland has been participating since 1965, and won 7 times (the most of any of the countries - they won in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996). They have gotten second place four times. Their song from 1987, "Hold Me Now," is currently used in several McDonald's Commercials (seen on YouTube here, here, and here).

On Irish News

One of Ireland's main news sources: RTÉ. I still mainly get my news from the BBC though (what can I say - I like the web page). I've never been one for reading American news sources though. Too edited. However, if I am going to read American news, I usually go for my hometown paper (the Pioneer Press) or the NYT. Mostly though, it's all the BBC.

On Irish Music

M'anam, mo chroí, mo ghlóir

I think I might go to the €2 store tomorrow and pick up some Christmas decorations. I figured I'd wait until Thanksgiving, just because. In Milan they had a 50c shop, at home there's the $1 store, but here it is the expensive €2 store. It'll liven up the place though.
Also... there will be a talk from a former student on "what it's like working for the Britsh Antarctic survey" tomorrow at one. Which I am most definitely going to. (And I'm excited).

On Days Off

No class tomorrow. How exciting is that?

On My Favorite Poet of Ireland

TO THE ROSE UPON THE ROOD OF TIME

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days!

Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways:

Cuchulain battling with the bitter tide;

The Druid, grey, wood-nurtured, quiet eyed,

Who cast round Fergus dreams, and ruin untold;

And thine own sadness, whereof stars, grown old

In dancing silver-sandalled on the sea,

Sing in their high and lonely melody.

Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate,

I find under the boughs of love and hate,

In all poor foolish things that live a day,

Eternal beauty wandering on her way.




Come near, come near, come near -- Ah, leave me still

A little space for the rose-breath to fill!

Lest I no more hear common things that crave;

The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,

The field-mouse running by me in the grass,

And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;

But seek alone to hear the strange things said

By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,

And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know

Come near; I would, before my time to go,

Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:

Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.

On Irish Commericals

I'm assuming you all have similar Coke commercials where you are, but still. This is one of the favorite commercials around here.

On the Waters of Galway

So most of the time when you think of a place having recurring water contamination problem, you think 'oh, third world' right? Apparently not. Galway has had boil water notices on and off for over a year now. There was the cryptosporidium which lasted forever and was on and off with people getting sick all over - and which was finally resolved last August just as I got here, and then there was the E. coli problem, and now apparently there's a third "water crisis" with abnormally high levels of clostridium perfringens. Especially fun is the fact that C. perfringens causes gastrointestinal illness and is an indicator of cryptosporidium! Also, on a different but related (in that it's in regards to water) note, sewage and water treatment plants are kind of a new thing here. The water treatment plant was built in 1981, and the new up-to-date sewage treatment plant that actually ensures beaches are swimable was just built in 2004.

On Irish Exams

Exams at NUIG are not held all on campus, like at home, but are at various locations throughout the city. This means either leaving an hour and a half ahead of time to walk, figuring out the almost non-existent public transportation system, or taking an expensive taxi. There are two times per day that exams can be held (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), and they occur over the period of two weeks. We find out November 15, a month before they end - very unlike Madison where you know before you even register for classes. One thing I prefer over Madison is that we actually get time to study; and it's not just a Saturday thrown in that doesn't really count as some people actually have exams then and it's a weekend day, we get a whole week. A week to study followed by two weeks of exams! But exams are longer; mine are either 2 or 3 hours in length, and count for anywhere between 60 and 100% of my grades. Which sucks. I've decided that I like Madison as a school much much better than NUIG, where processes are outdated, inconvenient, and poorly run.

On This Tropical Paradise

In November apparently the average number of sunshine per day is 1.93 hours. In December, it's 1.42. It hasn't gotten terribly cloudy yet, though, though again perhaps I've just gotten used to it. Mainly I think it just hasn't been very rainy (as in it only rains once per day not more), but that makes sense as apparently it rained every day all summer. So the palm trees keep thriving, the roses keep blooming, and all is good.

On NUIG and attendence

Attendance is much more lax here than at Madison. Both have decent sized classes, though here they don't get much over a couple hundred at biggest. But all it takes is big enough classes that the professor doesn't know you by name and notice if you come or not for people to feel comfortable ditching. So attendance in big classes is bad. And even more so than at Madison. I think this is because attendance in general is very casual; I hear people all the time ask friends if they made it to any classes the week before. The WEEK before. And more often than not they'll admit "no, I only hit two or three." From the WEEK. I go to every class, but then, I like to do well too. In my botany class, there are about 100 of us total (99 last I heard). On Mondays we get about 60 people, since most are filtering in from their weekends away. On Tuesday we get about 70 (roughly), and on Thursday we are lucky if we get over 30. Last Thursday, after Halloween, there were 15 of us. Out of 100. So attendance is casual.

On Irish Trains

At NUIG, nearly all of the students from Ireland go home for the weekend. They leave sometime during Friday, and return late Sunday, and tend to spend the weekend working back home. Most don't have jobs in Galway, just back home. Our flight back from Zürich went into Dublin, and we ended up taking the 18.45 train back to Galway - which turned out to be the train all of the other students from along that route were taking. We didn't know anyone, but it was fun to watch all of the other students that did know each other. It was a lot busier than Friday morning though, so the food cart wasn't able to come through (thankfully - I hate when it does). We were riding all the way from Dublin, so we were able to grab our own compartment (well, table, really, as they're all together, but I'm not sure what else to call them) which was nice. The one thing I didn't like about the train? It was a good 35C and I felt like the heat was going to kill me. None of the windows opened.

On Songs of Ireland

The video (in flash so if it's not working for you, I completely understand, I'm fairly convinced it's evil) is of Inis Mór (the biggest of the Aran Islands) just off Galway Bay on the west coast of Ireland. It still looks just like that, too. For another Ireland song, you can watch (though really you should just listen, not watch, as the image is static) the next video. This one I find particularly amusing, as to actually watch the sun go down over Galway Bay you'd need clear skies at that time. Which would require a heck of a lot of patience.

On Halloween

Today was Halloween, and my internet research proved to be true. Fireworks are very very common. I didn't get to see any bonfires, but we could hear and see fireworks going off every couple of minutes throughout town pretty much from when the sun went down (5ish) to when everyone went out clubbing (12-1ish). Costumes here are pretty much the same: girls wear as slutty as possibly outfits - nurses, sailors, cats, etc. - and guys cross dress or wear obscene outfits. So pretty much America plus fireworks! Though the costumes didn't start coming out till after sunset, whereas at home there are the people that wear them all day.

On Roundabouts

On roundabouts you die. They are silly, don't seem to actually improve traffic (in fact, while perhaps the chance of you having to stop is less than at a stoplight, the chance of getting in an accident seems greatly increased). And if you're a pedestrian trying to cross, well then, run. And run fast.

On Octobers and Novembers

As October comes to a close, I will draw some comparisons (or rather, point out some differences) between Galway and my hometown of St. Paul. In October, there are 21.4 days with precipitation in Galway, as opposed to 8.3 in St. Paul (averages!), and 114mm of rain here as opposed to 56 at home. The average wind speed here is 8.48m/s, and at home it's 5.84m/s. The average temperature here is also a balmy 10.3C – as opposed to 7.49C there. The differences increase as we move into November: the average number of days with precipitation here will remain at 21.4, but the amount will increase to 117mm, and while the average number of days with precipitation at home will increase to 8.5 days, the total there will fall to 40mm. The average wind speed here will increase to 8.97 m/s, and at home will similarly go up, but only to 5.96m/s. The average temperature here will decrease slightly to 7.26C, and at home will fall to a chilly -1.81C. I have to say, I'd prefer the cold to the wind and rain, but here I am nonetheless. It does make for an interesting walk to campus every day, though, and we get lots of rainbows.

On Irish Time

In the summer, Ireland is in IST (Irish Summer Time). Between the last Sunday in October and the last Sunday in March we move to regular GMT, which is what happened today. All of the European Union changes together, at 01.00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), and has since I believe 1996. DST was first introduced in Germany during WWI, with the rest of Europe following soon after, and America after that. Today pretty much only North America, Europe, and the former Soviet Union countries use DST, with a few exceptions (such as parts of Australia and South America). For us in Ireland, the time change now means that the sun rises at 07.26 and sets at 17.13, and while we still have 9 hours and 47 minutes of light, it means that it'll be dark for walks home from college. However, now we get to wake up to the light and walk to class while the sun's up. Still, thank goodness for dim yellow streetlights.

On The National University of Ireland

So I haven't really talked at all about the school I go to. It's pretty good, but only has one library, which in my opinion, is tragic. Where do they expect us to go?? For information on it, the main site is: http://www.nuigalway.ie/. My favorite area is the part surrounding Aras de Brun (the botany and zoology building) which seriously does make Galway seem tropical. For those of you unfamiliar with my Galway = tropical paradise argument, it goes a little like this: Galway never gets cold, Galway has palm trees, Galway gets lots of rain; the tropics never get cold, the tropics have palm trees, the tropics also get tons of rain. Therefore, Galway = a tropical paradise!

Other interesting links from the main school site are:
http://www.nuigalway.ie/campus_map/
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about/images/aerialmap2004.jpg
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about/images/3dmap.jpg
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about/images/quad1.jpg
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about/images/quad2.jpg
http://www.nuigalway.ie/about/images/quad3.jpg

On Halloween in Ireland

Halloween in Ireland is apparently very similar to Halloween in the states, but with a few exciting additions (so even better than at home?). Everyone dresses up and children trick-or-treat, and in addition to that, there are big bonfires all over and huge fireworks displays. The fireworks actually started a couple of weeks ago, and are big celebrations held by individuals in most cases (as I believe they are actually illegal here) that will continue through Halloween. There seems to be a group that sets off displays every couple of days around here that we get to watch, and these fireworks are the big exploding-in-the-sky type that probably cost a small fortune. To read more on Irish Halloween traditions, a good website I found was: http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/irishhalloweentraditions.htm

On Bank Holidays

Both Ireland and the UK have bank holidays, though the exact dates differ (Ireland has different dates than Northern Ireland, and Scotland has different dates yet). Prior to 1834 there were 33 saints’ days that banks closed on; however, in that year the number was reduced to four: Good Friday, May Day, All Saints’ Day, and Christmas Day. In an attempt to regain some of those days, Sir John Lubbock introduced and passed the Bank Holidays Act in 1871. In 1903, St. Patrick’s Day was added as a Bank Holiday for Ireland, but not the UK. Today, Bank Holidays in Ireland are: New Year’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday, May Day, June Bank Holiday (the first Monday in June), Summer Bank Holiday (the first Monday in August), October Bank Holiday (the last Monday in October – which is what this upcoming Monday is!), Christmas Day, and St. Stephen’s Day. Banks are closed on Bank Holidays, and people are allowed to postpone most payments until the following day. Currently, Ireland is considering adding two additional holidays to have the same number as the rest of Europe (so apparently they just get days off all the time over here in addition to their working shorter work weeks). Employers, however, are not legally required to give these days off, but pretty much everyone outside of the essential service industry has them off. In the case of a holiday falling on a weekend, those people that would have the day off are either given another day that month off or an extra day’s worth of pay, though typically they are given the next available weekday off. In Ireland, while Easter Monday is given as a holiday, the Friday before Easter is not, though all banks and public institutions close.

It’s kind of old, but here you go: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E1DB143BF934A35754C0A9629C8B63

Well I guess it’s pretty obvious what I think of that.

On The Fall in Galway

In Galway, it never really warms up, so it never really gets to cool down. So, come October, you don't really notice that it's fall, since it's only ten degrees cooler on average than August. The leaves are a third gone, a third yellow, and a third green. And the palm trees are hanging in there as always. The leaves here never have a moment of spectacular beauty, though, and the sky usually isn't clear or blue enough to make them shine. When it's cloudy, it's dark and rainy, and hard to notice them then too. So they don't get noticed, and thus fall passes by without much notice. But I guess the glass just looks half empty, I suppose it depends where you're from and how you like your fall.

On Irish Mobiles

All of the visiting students have the little pink Nokia from Meteor. Originally there were also silver ones, but they sold out right away (none of the guys wanted pink, I guess, so there was demand from both the girls and guys for silver, while only demand from girls for the pink). So pretty much everyone has pink the ones. You can buy them at any Meteor store, and they only cost €70, including €20 of free calling time. So basically that's €50 for the phone, which considering, is pretty darn good for expensive Ireland. Texting is free from Meteor to Meteor, and texting other phones is only €0.09 per text. Calls are more, but honestly, who calls anyone at college? Sure there are the family calls, but those are with Skype or calling cards, not cell phones (it'd be silly). Texting can be done in class and at the library, and is the way to go. Calls to the US are €0.50 per minute (outrageous, I know), but texts are only €0.15. It's all pay as you go, pretty much everyone's is. Other phone companies here are O2 and Vodafone. My favorite part of the phone though? The battery. I charge it only once every week and a half to two weeks, which is much better than the once every couple of days the phones at home require. And I pretty much never turn it off. There you go.

On Irish Graduations

Because of the delay in grading (no scantron sheets here, it's by hand, and mostly essay!), no one finds out how they did on spring exams until early September. Their majors here require them to take a set track of classes (first year science, for example, requires: chemistry, biology, physics, and first year maths), and from those classes they need an overall passing grade (40% I believe) to be able to move on to second year classes. If they don't pass, they either retake their exams, or retake the entire first year of courses. Which means they don't know if they can move on to second year or not until September, which is when they're returning and moving in, and which I would think would lead to a great amount of stress. It doesn't seem to, though, so I guess it works. Anyways, fourth years are just now graduating, as they just found out a little over a month ago if they actually could graduate, or if they'd need to retake fourth year exams, and there are graduates in graduation gowns all over campus, which is kind of cool to get to see.

On Irish Mould

One thing about Ireland- the damp climate fosters mould. The stuff thrives here. THRIVES. We had huge colonies of both black AND red mold in locations such as: a) the sink drain, b) the window sill, c) the toilet (yep! in the bowl, no less, where you'd think the moving water would prevent growth), and d) all over the poor shower. It was lovely. Thanks to me, though, the population has been halved. I felt a little bad, but I do have allergies, and after a certain point, it's me or them, and being the bio major I am, I felt the pressures of natural selection and knew I had to act before they finished me off.