Newgrange=Neolithic Tombs

After being violently ill for the whole of yesterday, I was afraid that I would not be able to make to today's trip out to Newgrange. However, after some sleep and some meds, I awoke to find my stomach more at ease which was a nice change. I made tea instead of coffee and managed to keep that and some oatmeal within the confines of my body. This cheered me up some, I then took my daily vitamin along with my new motion sickness medication that Mom sent over for me, followed by a couple of Tylenol due to the headache from dehydration yesterday. I packed a nalgene full of water along with some light crackers and I was ready to go on my trip for the day.

Everyone was up and out the door by 9:45, the time the bus was supposed to pick us up. So I left a little early to scope out our new pick up location and it turns out that the director of the trips had the street wrong and we ended up needing to backtrack in order to get onto the bus, no big deal. We held up a little traffic but made it in good time back to the correct location. Once everyone was aboard we traveled about one hour north to the town of Newgrange and on the way I saw a huge wind turbine, long-haired horses and baby sheeps! The scenery was breathtaking.

Once we arrived, we were herded to the visitors' center where we got our entrance stickers and tickets and then wandered around for a bit. We took in some displays, grabbed some coffee, whatever we wanted to do. After this, we made our way to the shuttle stop, crossing over the bridge that Doug (shout out!)made a mockery of in an awesome way, and were then conveyed to the actual site that we were there to see, the Neolithic Tombs.

The tombs are over 5,000 years old and we got to see one of the largest in the country. There is barely enough space to walk into it and it can be quite cramped. I know that I suffered from some claustrophobia as did a couple of others. It was quite narrow and short until you got to the main chamber. From the outside of the tomb, it seems as though it is one big fun house being approximately 200ft across. However, I was disappointed when I found out that inside was only about 15-20 ft across and it was a main room with 3 antechambers that were simply small rooms off of the larger one. It was a little unnerving to think of all the people that had been in and out of the tombs over the years.

One of the best things about the tomb was the beautiful quartz on the outside. The entire thing was surrounded by 97 kurbstones, and on top of that was a wall built entirely of quartz and inlaid with round stones for decoration. It was quite impressive to think of the abilities that went into building such a place. The guide also informed us that the entire building was water tight, meaning also air tight, and that not one drop of water had ever succeeded in penetrating the roof in the many, many years that the tomb had been standing. It is not known who built the tomb or how or exactly why but there are many guesstimates. One of the biggest and most impressive of these is the idea that the people who built the structure actually used boats and floated them for miles down the river in order to gain the stones with which to build.

There was a brief simulation of what happens when the winter solstice sun hits the entrance to the tomb and that was pretty neat. There is a small window above the doorway to the structure which allows for sunlight penetrating at exactly due east to enter the tomb and fill it with light. Apparently there is also a lottery to win the option of witnessing this amazing event. When the sun comes in, it is supposed to reflect and fill the entire tomb with light. We also watched a video in the visitors' center which informed us that the winter solstice was the most important celebration of the year due to the impending coming of spring. And that the built who built the tomb may have used it in their worship of the sun and not simply as a place for resting the dead. Besides the large structure there are at least 37 smaller ones scattered within a 10km range. It is interesting but hard to imagine people building these structures over 2-3 generations of people. It's amazing what a little ingenuity and fear of god will do for a person. Meaning that the people who built the tombs were also afraid that if they did not worship the sun in the correct manner that their gods would be angry and make the winter last even longer, a very harsh sentence indeed.

After we poked around the inside of the tomb, we were able to have a quick jaunt around it to check out the various stones, carvings, and of course landscape before hopping back onto the shuttle to make our way back to the visitors' center. (I caught Garrett playing "Karate Kid" on the stones which was pretty entertaining.) After our return, we came to the cafe for lunch. I had a tuna salad sandwich with chicken noodle soup and some powerade. Others chose from various other sandwiches and baguettes and of course some opted to pay extra for dessert :D

We met back at the bus for 2pm and were soon on our way back home. I was able to get some shut eye on the bus due to my motion sickeness meds, woot woot! Once we got back, we had to make room for all the fire trucks at the end of Grafton, someone said there was a movie being shot there? IDK, looked more like a fire in Burger King if you ask me!

Snow in Dublin, again!

You know those days when everything is going so well but then you have one little thing go wrong and it doesn't ruin the day but it sorta makes you go, "what the hell world, what the hell?" You know because you thought it was gonna be a good thing and then it turned out to not be such a good thing? Yea, well today was like that...actually this week has been like that so far.

It all started yesterday when my Entrepreneurial Management prof told the class that Porter's 5 forces model, you know the one I have been using in everything for the last 2.5 years had not only added a 6th force but also is completely irrelevant to today's marketplace? Really? Really right now?

And as of today, I can officially say that I have biked in every kind of weather that is common to the Northern Hemisphere. I have biked in sunshine, clouds, overcast, drizzle, rain, freezing rain, hail, sleet, and now SNOW. I was all excited due to it snowing while I was at school today. Right up until the moment I realized that I still had to bike home...not so cool then. But on the brightside, biking in February in Maine is not something I would ever get to do and I will most likely never get to bike in actual snow again.

I had a class in the morning, to which I paid absolutely no attention and instead created a cover letter for an internship, tweaked my facebook page, and meandered around the Internet. After this, I waited around for 3 hours, watched "New Moon" in this time, only to remember the reason I hadn't re-watched it yet, yea it makes me want to go read the 3rd novel, which is currently at home and I will not have access to for 3 months, goody.

So then it was meeting time. But my group member screwed up the presentation and we had to spend that time redoing her efforts. Okay, no problem, I had some time to kill and I had to be there anyways. So we wrapped that up and I jumped over to my next meeting. Sat down with the group, banged out the answers for our case study, not a problem. Then we briefly brainstormed ideas for the project that is due after we come back from break but didn't finalize anything. Left that meeting at exactly 4pm.

At this point, I had one hour to make it home and prep for my interview at 5pm. So I raced to the bathroom to change into my riding clothes, then remembered that I had to return a book to the library. So I quickly re-dressed and dashed over to the library, almost knocking over some people along the way and made it to that stupid card scanner that you have to use in order to even GET into the library. Got thru there, opened my bag, pulled out the book, shoved it through the slot, zipped everything back up, adjusted my bag on my shoulders and made my way to the scanners to let myself back out again.

After this, I walked through the snow to my bike and luckily the snow wasn't sticking, only making things wet, grrrrrreeat. Well at least it should have been an easy ride home. Made it back to the apartment after almost getting creamed by 4 buses: one due to a giant puddle I was trying to avoid, one due to a car stopping in front of the bus, one bus pulling out in front of me, and another that I pulled into a driveway to avoid because the lane was too narrow. So I got back to my street and saw two of my roommates (shout out Lexi and Morgan) ready to walk in. I had them take my key out of my pocket and hold the door so that I could get my bike in. I'm dripping water all over the place at this point due to the fact that the snow turned to sleet/freezing rain on the way home. I walked up the stairs and was stopped by the boys who had a question. After I helped them, I asked the time and they scared the hell out of me when they said 5 o'clock!

Fortunately it was only 4:40pm and I still had enough time to get ready and dressed (a little) for my interview. So I stripped off my wet clothing,washed the mud off my face, set up my laptop, threw on a button up and some shorts and stood in front my closet where I would wait for the interviewer to sign on so that I could Skype him. He signed on, I called, and I think it went well. It's all a matter of waiting now, which is fine by me. I still have to keep applying to summer internships and such, so I have some time to kill, plus you know the usual schoolwork or whatever if I feel the need...

So goals for the week:
-Get in touch with contact for entrepreneur interview
-Pick topic and start Irish History essay
-Post pictures of snow both here and on FB
-Apply for publishing internship

And this Saturday is the trip to the Newgrange Neolithic Tombs, so that should be fun!

Awesome Week

Because this week has been soooooo ah-may-zing, I've decided to keep a tally of all the ways that it has been awesome. And I still have a few more days to add, so don't be surprised if I do!

Monday:
-Got my first paper printed and turned in with no problems.

Tuesday:
-Was almost late to school, but biked it hard and made it with 10 minutes to spare.
-After my first class, I was able to catch my Entrepreneurial MG prof and tell her about an idea I have for the individual project that I'm supposed to do. She was able to give me a contact and now I might possibly get to interview one of the biggest names in Ireland!
-Had a short group meeting in which we were able to decide who was going to do what and finish up with time to spare.
-Spent some time in the library and was able to get a chapter ahead for my Management of Innovation and Change course.
-Finished up negotiations with Mary for our NCR class.

Wednesday:
-Had a Londis BLT for lunch, plus something that tasted sort of like Fun-yuns.
-Night class was cancelled, boo-yeah!
-Got an email request from my dream internship for a phone interview!!!!!!!!!!!
-Saw "Footloose" the musical performed for free at UCD (see previous blog for details)

Thursday:
-Woke up early and got to read some chapters for pleasure before school
-Saw that two packages had arrived for me from my older sister that I had no idea were coming ♥
-In Negotiations class, Mary's and my negotiations were put up on the slides as an example to the class of how it should be done, hells to the yes!
-Got to spread the word about the Nokia "Morph" in my MG of Innovation & Change class, and in case you haven't heard: http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/research/demos/the-morph-concept/video
-Came home to find that my package from home made it to Ireland and is awaiting me in the post office to come pick it up :D
-Found out that I have a follower to my blog now which greatly pleases me.

Friday:
-Finished the book I just bought two days ago
-Found the post office and picked up my package with no problems although 8 pounds feels like more when you have to walk a couple miles back home
-Got a few surprises such as a potato masher, new gloves, and tea-bag-like coffee :)
-Was able to do my groceries in under a half an hour and save almost 20 euros!
-Found pre-packaged salad...the only downer was NO RANCH DRESSING!?
-Watched the new movie "Valentine's Day" and was happy at how good it was

Saturday:
-Found a site and created countdowns for St. Patty's Day, My Birthday, and the day I leave, yay me!
-IT WAS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review of "Footloose"

Tonight, UCD put on a production of "Footloose," the musical that was later made into a movie starring Kevin Bacon. On Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and reformation after the day of debauchery(Mardi Gras), the musical is about sexual and musical revolution...how ironic.

The good:
-Lead actress playing Arielle
-Actress playing Rusty
-Actor playing Willard
-"Momma Says" song scene
-"She Gets Around" song scene
-Father was well portrayed
-Bad man was actually cute and could sing

The bad:
-Lead Actor playing Ren was not attractive enough for the part and couldn't really act or dance, but could somewhat sing
-Choreography was terrible
-The whole thing looked unpracticed
-Opening and closing scenes didn't have enough energy or cohesiveness
-Ren's mother wasn't really believable
-Wayyyy too much macking
-Meager set, too much changing of scene tried


The Ugly:
-Had a scene containing a song that did not belong in the movie, "I Need a Hero," you know the one performed in Shrek. And the back-up dancers were actually special appearances by David Hasselhoff, Bruce Springsteen, Harrison Ford, and Patrick Swayze
-Completely ruined the "Paradise" song scene between Ren and Arielle
-Attempted to do American Southern accents mixed in with their own Irish ones
-Costumes were not well put together, looked like something pulled out of the closet or a garage sale

Worst:
-Not in an actual auditorium. It was a giant space with a built stage (in good condition) but with chairs just put out and I couldn't really see the whole thing due to the lack of tiers.


*All in all, glad I didn't pay to go see it, but I did have some good laughs, got out of the apartment and hang out with the girls outside of the apartment or class, kind of a nice getaway. Thank you Joanne Reilly for letting us see this free of charge.
Oh and I did get lost trying to find the building the "theatre" was in, and a group of actors knocked over the bench they were attempting to sit on. Good times.

Croake Park, Malahide Castle, and the Irish Sea

Yesterday was another day trip courtesy of UCD and it was AWESOME! While my favorite part of the day did not come until the end, it was still good overall. First off, the bus ride to the first location was only about 20min, which was good because I didn't feel a hint of motion sickness. It had been a late night for most of my roommates, so it's always interesting trying to get them up the next morning. Most of them are still drunk, so getting ready takes a bit longer and walking there is an adventure. But everyone managed to make it to the bus stop in good time and with a few minutes to spare.

The morning was spent at Croake Park, the national stadium of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is an enormous pitch/field that seats I don't even remember how many people. It contains the largest electronic screen in Dublin and the land that it sits on has been used for Gaelic games and events for over 300 years. Some of the games that are played there include hurling, Gaelic football, women's hurling, handball, and sometimes rugby and soccer. The stadium can be used for all ages of play from 10 and up. Although most kids at that age are still playing in their home county and not venturing too far from home. We got the chance to take a tour of the museum and some people tried out hurling or Gaelic football, I did not have the chance to take a turn. I did however test out a balancing mechanism which was pretty cool. It was basically a flat board that you had to stand on and it would time how long you could balance it for before it touched down. All in all, this wasn't the most interesting place for me, but it was pretty cool. We were able to get a tour of all the different areas in the stadium and get pictures from right down on the pitch to way up in the skybox. We also got a view out the backside of the city of Dublin which was also spectacular.

After we were done at the GAA stadium, we hopped back onto the bus and began another 10-15 minute journey to Malahide Castle. When we first arrived, we were ushered through the back and into the restaurant where we were going to be eating lunch. For the meal, we had some surprisingly good sandwiches, a tasty soup that no one knows what is really was, and a sumptuous tart filled with a warm black current jam and custard and topped with almonds. There was also ah-may-zing coffee served with dessert and it was highly appreciated. After lunch, we were able to go to the gift shop and wander around outside for a bit before starting our tour. I bought a postcard for KOSHA and then made my way outside to watch people play ball on the grass.

The tour began at 2pm and were lead upstairs to a large wood-paneled room to await the audio commentary that would lead us around Malahide Castle. Most of the room was covered in hand-carved pictures that were breath-taking. After that we moved into the small drawing room which was bright orange with gold trimming and contained a mottled marble fireplace. After that, we walked through the large wooden doors into the large drawing room, used for entertaining guests. It was also bright orange but had a less decorative ceiling and more seating. There was a large couch which had two additional seats kitty-cornered on the ends and was rather unique looking. Not good for watching TV, but certainly good for sitting and talking to others around you. After leaving the large drawing room, we passed a painting of the last owner of the Castle when was only 6 years old, and ventured up the stairs to the large blue room which contained silhouettes and models for carpenters. Not finding too much interesting other than the exquisite carpet which contained the crest of the house, we then moved up another set of stairs to bedroom hallway. One bedroom for the ladies containing their dressing clothes and a chamber pot, another for the children with all their toys and cribs, and one for the man of the house with his crown, cape, and huge grooming kit. Then we traveled back down stairs to the main hallway and passed through into the dining room. This room had a table that seated at least 30 and still hosts occasional banquet and a minstrels balcony to be entertaining the diners. There also a painting that was as big as the side of a house....wow. Passing through there was the small library with its entirely leather covered walls and books bigger than two of my laptops side by side. So there wasn't too much that was interesting about the inside of the castle and the outside was under construction so that wasn't too pretty either. But the grounds were beautiful and it was an overcast day so the sun wasn't too bright and I managed to get a few good pics.

After we were done meandering the grounds and such, I got back on the bus only to find that Morgan had elected me to jump into the ocean...because that was our next move. After a 5 minute bus ride to the coast, we ran off the bus to smell the fresh ocean air and to view the Irish Sea. It was breath-taking (pics coming later). The water was basically the same color as the Atlantic Ocean and the rocks looked the same, but the air wasn't quite as salty and there wasn't as much seaweed everywhere. There were people riding horses on the beach, which was interesting and beautiful yellow lab cross running through the water having a grand ole time. There were rocks and islands and seashells; a lighthouse type thing that didn't have a light at the top...so that was confusing. The water was COLDDDDDDDD but I did manage to stick my hand in and let my waterproof shoes protect my feet while I stood in the rushing waves. After awhile, we were called back to the bus by Dorothy to begin our journey home.

I was able to doze a little on the ride home and the Bent kids were dropped off about 4 blocks from our apartment. We made our way back to the apartment and most people went to watch the rugby game on TV. I did some homework and applied for some more internships which was interesting. I eventually gave up on that and decided to watch The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural followed by downloading an online version of The Oregon Trail, yay me!

One Month Down

Just realized that I have officially been in Ireland for a month now.

Of course, I came to that realization on my bike this morning and almost got creamed by a bus...but still.

Some tidbits to share:
Policemen in plain cars wearing uniforms, stopped in the middle of the road to yell at the guy behind them for tailgating.
Policemen in Ford Focus.
Policemen on horses.

Old people bikers.

People here run at night...when it's 30 degrees with the windchill.
I can bike faster than I can run.
And runner was running faster than I can bike...*awkward*

Almost got hit by a guy turning...like you can't see the bright flashing lights, you jackass.

Guy walked into my bike as I was pushing it down the pedestrian walkway.

The Irish love Americans.
The Irish economy is heavily influenced by the American economy.

The dollar is finally strengthening. $1.34 per euro now!
Banks like to screw you over.

The 46a bus is faster than the 10.
The 16c bus goes to the airport.

The post office only has two boxes, "In Dublin" and "Anywhere but Dublin."
Toy stores hide.
There is a music school across the street and a business school one street over.
An arcade is an alley with shops.

Dunnes and Penny's are Ireland's gifts to poor people.
Alcohol is expensive...especially Guinness.
Buying your own alcohol sucks.

Even a 2euro sub can be better than making your own dinner.
Ireland doesn't have alfredo...and baked beans in America are different than the ones here.

In most of my blogs I talk about all the new things I try and what I love, so to change it up here are some things I miss from home:
Cheetos
Easy Mac
Goldfish
Alfredo
GATORADE
Tylenol
Nyquil
soft water
showering without sandals
clothes that smell clean when they are
my hamper
my dresser
having a clock
having more than one pillow
keeping exercise separate from class
having a normal library
my animals
not having to use an adaptor
having a desk
having a couch and chairs
driving
Netflix
Redbox
WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Staples
CVS
Munchos
White Pizza
Pizza Stone
Dagwoods
Pizza Connection
Real American Cheap Ass Chinese Food
Big Portions to make lunch the next day
Bread that fits in the toaster
Pop-tarts
and of course, my pink bedroom

(obviously everyone i love too)

Superbowl Sunday

Sunday started off slow with everyone eventually rolling out of bed and getting on with their day. It wasn't very eventful over here, so this is gonna be a quick one.

Got up, had breaky, found out that Captain America's somehow managed to triple book our 3 tables and we no longer had an actual place to sit. Wandered around a bit and watched some Scrubs. Did a mediocre amount of homework, even to keep my brain from completely dying. Then watched more Scrubs.

Had some cake from Lexi's birthday and chilled out with the roomies. Made a list of all the things that suck in our apartment as compared to the two others and did some decorating.

Finally, it was time to get ready for the game. Got the peeps together. A couple of the guys wanted to check out a bar down the road that was giving out free food and see what that scene was like since was got screwed by Captain Americas. We went over to check out what it was like anyway and found out that it was be 5euro a head since we lost our reservation due to overbooking.

Called the guys who said that "Break for the Border" was not only giving out food, but had plenty of seating and no cover. Cool. Went over there and found seats in front of the big projection screen. Waited for the game to commence and after standing to Queen Latifah singing "America the Beautiful" and Carrie Underwood singing the National Anthem, us Americans sat back down amongst all the Irish who had strangely turned out to watch the Superbowl.

The whole night I keep thinking that I have class the next day at 9am so I can't stay out too late. First quarter and midnight both roll by. Not seeing much luck, I take my chances and decide to head back to the apartment with Katie. I crashed into bed shortly after I got home and promptly set my alarm for 7am.

Woke up this morning to find out that not only did the Saints win after I left in a surprising turn, but I actually didn't have class until 11am not 9am. And at this point, I had already had my caffeinated tea and trying to go back to sleep was a bitch. So better luck tonight I'm hoping. And oh yea, I really do have a 9am class tomorrow, yay Business Excellence.

One last note...as of today, I have taken approximately 960 pictures. :D