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.