so cold

two years in los angeles made me forget that the temperature can actually drop below 50 degrees. the high for today was supposed to be between 7 and 11 degrees celsius (ca. 45-50), but I'm not sure that we ever got there.
we had a practice match for camogie at 11 this morning, and if it 40 degrees out, I would be surprised. the coach had me and ashley marking each other, and unlike the last time that happened (when we ended up almost never seeing the slitter), we actually saw a little action. I still haven't gotten down the whole picking the ball up while running thing...or the hitting the ball thing...or the hand passing thing....nevermind, we'll not think about what I can't do. I did have a few good ground passes though, two of which resulted in people from our team getting points! I don't know if they care about assists much in hurling and camogie, but I feel damn good about it one way or another.
because we had, of course, started late and subsequently run long, I wasn't able to make it back in time for early medieval ireland. sigh. but I made it to archaeology, where I signed up for the fieldtrip to tara, which I am extremely excited about.
now, unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do on some papers, although I got an extension on the northern ireland one by playing the "confused american" card. I knew that would come in handy sooner or later. in summary, I got very wet and very cold walking to a gaelic football practice that didn't happen, then waiting forty minutes for the bus. I'm just starting to thaw out about 2 hours later. maybe I'll make a cup of tea...then start work on the paper.

HITCH HIKING (just getting it out there in the open)

so I decided on friday/saturday that because my family out in carraroe was going to dublin for the weekend that I was going to get on a bus and go somewhere. it didn't really matter where, but I decided to call karen and ask her what she recommended. she had just gotten back from the emergency room :( but she was more than happy to talk about ireland. when she starts talking about the time she spent here, she doesn't sound as tired and stressed out. so, she told me all about glencolumcille, up in county donegal, which is the far north-west county.
getting to county donegal is a challenge in and of itself, and it took about five hours to get from galway to donegal city. then I had to wait for one of the two buses that operates on saturday out to glen, as the locals call it. on the bus we passed through all sorts of little towns, and at one point the bus actually couldn't make it between parked cars: it turns out that the whole town, and probably most of the surrounding area as well, was at saturday night mass, and the whole street was packed with cars parked on both sides of the road. there was no way for the bus to get through, and mass had just started, so rather than wait for it to get out, the bus driver backed up for over a kilometer. once he got back to the last little fork in the road he took the other path, but really, I've never seen anything like that....
when we got to glencolumcille I had a bit of a hike to the hostel, which is run by this funny little woman named mary. the building is basically carved out of rock...I don't even know how to describe it. in some places it only had that wobbly tin sheet for a roof, the kind which you see on top of tool sheds. the bedroom was plenty warm, but I'm not sure that the rest of the place was heated. apparently mary calls the place glencolumbchill. after I got there she made a cup of tea and I went up to the common room where I watched the ireland v. france world cup qualifier with other guests of the hostel. there was a german couple on their honeymoon, two young swiss guys on holiday, and an irish guy who had been there for a while. the game was pretty good, even if the final score was 0-0. most irish people agreed that this was a good outcome for the irish, since the french were supposed to be a formidable opponent. the next, and final (for this year), match of the world cup qualifiers is wednesday at 7 against the faroe islands, which is a fascinating place in and of itself, but that's a seperate story.
after the match I went to bed, and after I woke up the next morning I started to walk. mary had given me a handout which had maps of the major buildings and monuments in the area, so I decided to follow the path of columcille, which is marked by standing stones. now, you have to remember that I'm taking a course on columcille, so there is a bit of deeper meaning in this for me. so much so that I tramped up and down hills for bloody hours trying to find all of the stones, some of which are in the middle of farmers fields, so that if you want to see them you have to climb over fences of stone or wire...but it shows your dedication, right? anyway, I found all the stones (saw them from a distance, at the very least), visited an abandoned lookout tower, found some court tombs (which are like 4000 years old), and walked almost all the way to silver strand, which is about 4 km from glen, and as I was walking back a car stopped and the driver asked if I was looking for a lift. well, I wasn't, but the prospect of walking the 3 km back to town in the dark was not especially inviting, especially because my right foot was hurting, so I accepted. francis (?) was a friend of mary, and he was kind enough to drive me to the bottom of the hill on which the hostel is perched. I'm not used to hitching a ride, so I asked f. and he said that it's rather common, especially for elderly people. (I guess it's better than letting them drive?) I decided to talk to mary when I got back to the hostel, since the only bus on mondays leaves at 7.30 am. now, who in their right mind would make the only bus leave that early? when I was talking it over with mary she kept saying, oh sure and you'll have no trouble getting a lift, especially if you only have your one little bag (I just brought my blue backpack).
so this morning I woke up and set out for the first (and probably only) episode of hitch-hiking in my life. I went into town and started along the road to donegal, and wasn't more than 100 m from the edge of town (uphill the whole way) when a car stopped for my rather timid thumb. the driver was a nice young woman from australia whose husband is from glen, and who is living here for a year. she was able to drive me as far as killybegs, where I got a ride with an older irish couple, who drove me a bit farther, to bruckles. then I hit a dry spell, so I figured, when in doubt, start walking. finally an suv stopped. the driver turned out to be from barrington hills, illinois, and he had lived in san fran and l.a., so the sc jacket earned its keep. he must have done alright for himself, because he was probably in his mid-thirties and he was retired. he was only going to give me a lift to mountcharles, but he drove me all the way to donegal town, which was an extra 9 km. needless to say, I was extremely grateful, and when I was thanking him profusely he said that he hoped that if one of his daughters was travelling that someone would help her out. Hurrah for nice people!!! I got to donegal an hour and a half before the bus was leaving, so I was able to sit down and have a nice lunch (a hot wrap, salad, and slice of apple pie). then I began another long bus ride, this one taking about 4 hours, then I ran to catch the number five and finally got home to my wonderful apartment.
I know that I'm undoubtedly making light of something which most people would find very serious, as I found out later this evening. I went to gaelic football practice, and when I mentioned that I had hitch-hiked to tina, with whom I walk to practice, she almost flipped out. when irish people get excited, they tend to talk extremely quickly, and considering how fast the talk to begin with, this can make them difficult to understand; in the ensuing conversation I only caught snatches of "so dangerous", "by yourself!" and other similar phrases. I'm sure that many other, more coherent people will be expressing the same sentiments themselves, but we all need to take a deep breath and think about the circumstances. first of all, 7.30 in the morning is too bloody early for anything. second, having checked with the locals I ascertained that such things are done on a fairly regular basis. third, I wasn't in dublin, cork, limerick, galway, or any other major urban center. I know that it would be naive to say that nothing bad happens in the country side, but the chances of anything bad happening there truly are lower. finally, I have no intention of hitching again. ever. I'm definitely not one to tempt fate.
having made all of that very clear, I had a very nice weekend, donegal was beautiful, and I can't wait to do a bit more travelling (minus the hitch-hiking).

still not legal

it's rather frustrating that I finally found the time to get back out to the garda station, after getting lost because there are two industrial estates right next to each other and I couldn't quite remember where I went last time, and the stupid place was closed for the afternoon. this wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that I only have one more week before I become an illegal alien. hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow after archaeology. we (tara and I) also found a new shopping center which is fairly nearby, and which will definitely have to be inspected in case they have any decent raincoats/winter jackets.
on a lighter note, I got to talk to all kinds of people yesterday. it was mom and kevin's birthdays yesterday, so once I got a calling card, which only works once in a blue moon, it seems, I was able to call arlington heights and lake forest. I talked to mom before she was heading out to the garden, and it was good to talk since I didn't get a chance to call home this weekend. then I called southern california, where I didn't get to talk to the birthday boy, but I talked to his papa and older brothers. logan is turning into a stunning conversationalist, in which he is able to use just the word "yep." joshua was much chattier, and I hear that he's going to be taking up the violin! very impressive. then, when I was waiting for the bus to come home from gaelic football, I called katie out in carraroe, and got to talk to both her and noel, even though I had a hard time understanding either of them because each time a car passed I wasn't able to hear them. but I'm going to see them this weekend, one way or another.

a soldier's song

I'm not quite sure what that title has to do with anything. it's the irish national anthem, also known as the amhran na bhfiann. I believe that Ireland is the only country I know of which has a national anthem in two languages.
I had a nice visit out to the aran islands. it ended up being myself, tara (from ny), elisa (from frankfurt am main), and 17 assorted europeans (from france, germany, italy, holland, and austria). it started out a little tense, because I had booked a cab for 6.45, knowing that it would probably be about fifteen minutes late, since we were all meeting downtownat 7.20. as I had anticipated, the cab got there at 7.00, so we got there with plenty of time. when everyone had gathered we walked over to the pier where we were supposed to be leaving from. note the phrase "supposed to." the boat was supposed to leave at about 7.45 (note the use of "supposed to" again). well, it was about eight, and there was no sign of anyone. just a bunch of backpackers milling around. well, people were getting very tense about the lack of ferrying, so after a while we started to walk back into town. as we were leaving the docks a car pulled up and after a very long conversation it was related to those of us unwilling to involve ourselves in any arguing or tenseness that the weather was too bad, so the ferry wasn't running. again, with the tenseness. we walked into the heart of town, waiting for a tourist office to open so that we could try to find an alternate mode of transport. to cut a long and rather uninteresting aspect of this story short, we ended up taking a bus out to rossaveel, where the crossing is shorter and the ferries run in all sorts of weather. we got on, and lots of people were sitting on top, which I knew wasn't going to last long, so I went downstairs to see if I could find a window seat. the guys working the ferry came through, telling everyone that they should sit in the back because it would be smoother back there. I decided that I was going to tough it out, since I have never really had any problems with sea-sickness, or motion sickness of any kind, really. we got started and it was pretty rough for the first 15 minutes of so, and there were lots of people accepting plastic bags, but I had such a great time! as long as I could see a wave coming I didn't have any troubles with getting sick. my stomach would do little turns on every big drop, but it wasn't especially troublesome. it struck me as odd that I would enjoy this so much, considering how much I hate roller coasters. anyways, I was in a great mood, and then I saw my roommate Tara who was literally green (I never thought that people actually turn green, it seemed like it was just an expression, but it really does happen). it would seem that I was among the few who had enjoyed the trip over.
after we had disembarked we walked about a kilometer to the hostel, where we all payed our 14 euros for a night's accomodation and breakfast the next day. after breakfast we went in a little mini-bus with this great irish guy who just kind of drove us to the big sites, telling stories the whole time, singing songs, and relating anecdotes about every single person we passed on the road. when there are only 900 people on your island, it seems to mean that everyone knows everything. we went to a place called the seven churches, which was once the site of a monastic community and we all got out and took pictures, then got back on the bus because it was raining. our next stop was a rocky beach which had some fabulous views of the nearby cliffs. the bus driver said, alright take 15 or 20 minutes, then meet back here. about an hour and a half later the people finally were trickling back in. it would seem that if you give continental europeans something to climb all over, they're pleased as punch. I was ready to go after a much shorter amount of time, having wandered around and examined a few stone enclosures which looked interesting, so I went back to the bus and had a chat with our driver, though I'm ashamed to say that I never found out his name. when they had finally all come back there was a bit of a...to do? I'm not quite sure how to describe it. thomas had negotiated for a four euro fee to be taken out to the beach, and it would be four more to go to the cliffs, then back to the hostel. now, I don't mind a bit of walking, but it was going to be a three hour trek to go to the cliffs, then back to the hostel. I thought that that was definitely worth 4 euro, and I wasn't the only one. but thomas was trying to dicker with the driver to get a discounted rate to go just to the cliffs, and the bus driver was having none of it. finally we left behind about half the group and proceeded to Dun Aonghasa (pronounced done angus). it's a ring fort perched on the edge of a cliff...it was so spectacular. it's actually half of a ring fort, and it looks almost like the other half just fell into the sea. I'm having a heck of a time finding a decent picture of it, especially since I still can't get the photo publisher to work . this was about the best I could do for now: http://www.cycleholidaysireland.com/day_5.5.jpg .
it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. it's not quite as awe inspiring as the cliffs of moher, but just imagining standing on the central platform, with the atlantic ocean behind you...you get some feeling of being transported to the days when it was first built over 2500 years ago. it was....beyond words.
I think that's probably the climax of the trip, so I'll summarize ther rest of it briefly: returned to 'town,' checked out the famous aran woolen mills, had dinner at a nice restaurant, went back to the hotel where everyone was singing their national anthems (oy), went to bed around 9, woke up about 8.45 after a night of much waking up (I guess that happens where there are 8 or 9 people to a room), had a slightly undercooked breakfast, walked down to the tourist office where I bought a couple posters and postcards, came back on the ferry (a much smoother crossing), had lunch at supermacs (a suprising non-greasy fast food restaurant), took the bus home (with the fantastic bus pass which I bought last friday), and took a much welcomed hot shower. I guess that I should add that the whole trip, indeed this whole ireland trip, was rather water-logged. after a nap which lasted much longer than I had planned, I took a stab at my latin (which I did rather well at).
today was rather uneventful, except for the incredible rain and cold weather. even the natives have been complaining. especially at gaelic football practice - we were drenched, especially those whose team lost the little scrimages, since they had to do 20 sit-ups, laying in the cold wet grass. fortunately our team didn't lose any scrimages, though I think that that may be due to the fact that one of the girls on our team didn't have on a yellow jersey like the rest of us, so the other team passed to her fairly regularly. I can't say that I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.
tomorrow is going to be another fabulous 'medieval ireland tuesday.' only two classes, both with daibhi o croinin.
my other big news was that I finally got a chance to talk to karen! I had been kind of worried, since I hadn't heard from her via email or anything (besides the fantastic care package which she sent me), so I was thrilled when I finally got in touch with her on friday. she hasn't been well, but she was so happy to get a chance to talk to me, I was sad when my phone card ran out of time. I plan to go out and buy another as soon as I can, especially since there are a couple birthdays coming up, so I should definitely make a few calls there as well.....