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.