I am going to write about my time in Dublin, Ireland, where I'll study at Trinity College for 8 months.
UPDATE: I am going to stay for the whole academic year!!!!
So, today I bought a big poster of Ireland... Why?
Yesterday I started thinking about what I want to do on the weekend. I had gotten all these touristy brouchures for all the trips you can do and I had no clue how to decide... I started making a list of all the places I want to see while in Ireland... I can tell you, the list is long and I am not even done yet.
What I will do now is mark all the places on the map, where I have been... So hopefully by the end of my stay there will be a lot of points or crosses or whatever on the map... Still have to figure out how to mark the places, any clever suggestions that do not cover up the place names are welcome!
This is how the map looks now:
So I already have some places where I'm supposed to put markings: Dublin (yes, really), Kilkenny, Glendalough and Jerpoint Abbey... I'll do that as soon as I have figured out how.
As to how the first week at Trinity went I shall post in the next few days...
So I was at the Leprechaun Museum the other day....
Because I am a bit lazy and uncreative today I'll just copied some of the information boards from the museum and this is what they have to say about Leprechauns: So this is not owned by me, but by the National Leprechaun Museum:
The leprechaun is shoemaker to the fairies. He usually appears alone, and can be seen sitting on a toad-stool smoking his pipe and hammering a shoe. He is small and wizened in appearance, although not necessarily old. Old clay-pipes, especially if small, when found on the ground are thought to be his tobacco-pipes. His hammering can be heard for some distance in the woodland.
Although having short and thin legs, he is very agile, and can move very quickly through the fields and woods; he climbs trees very well, and is a great swimmer. A slick speaker, he is also a great musician, and can be seen resting or playing music on a toad-stool, on a stone or rock, or on the branch of a tree. He is usually seen at daybreak or at sunset.
He lives in a secluded spot – usually a hole in the ground. Covered by foliage, in which he has built a comfortable little dwelling. He is said to have a mother, who cooks his food for him, especially his ‘potatoes’ (i.e. pig-nuts). He dresses in old 18th – 19th century style. He is very wealthy, and has his treasure hidden in a crock of gold in the earth or underwater. He has three purses in his jacket – one for copper coins, one for silver coins, and one for gold coins.
The first written mention of the leprechaun dates back to the 8th Century, and they make an appearance in the story of Fergus Mc Leti a king of Ulster.
A man meets a leprechaun, who gives him a purse called sparán na scillinge (the purse of shillings). Each time the man does business and puts his hand into the purse to pay his debts he finds a shilling there. However, the man abuses the privilege by becoming greedy and puts his hand time and again into the purse, without any real need to do so. One night its contents change to dust.
A man captures a leprechaun and takes him home, hoping to force him to tell where his treasure is. He shuts him up in a room, but during the night the man hears terrible noise and commotion. The leprechaun has gone wild, and is breaking everything in the room, and so the man in terror and desperation lets him go.
A man with a deformity captures a leprechaun and asks him where his treasure is. The leprechaun bargains that, if released, he will cure the man’s ailments. The man releases the leprechaun, and next morning he wakes up to find that he is well and sound.
A strange little man comes as a stranger to a farmer and offers to do the farm-work. He is a great worker – not only does he look after the cattle and horses, but he also cleans up the house every night, leaving everything spick and span. The grateful farmer has a suit made for the leprechaun as a surprise. The leprechaun takes this as an insult and departs.
A strange little man appears as a portent of some impending disaster. For instance, a lord in his castle is visited by such a little man, who warns him not to go hunting on a certain day. The nobleman ignores the advice and meets with his death by accident.
A strange little red-haired man appears to a chieftain and offers to help him in an imminent battle. In the fighting, the little man proves to be a great archer, and with his arrows puts the enemy to flight.
A great jockey looks like a little fairy man, and he wins every race. He is heard to talk to the horse he is riding during the race, and the horse replies to him. People think that he is indeed a fairy, and this is proved when a musician is brought into a fairy fort and meets the jockey there. Or the jockey may in fact be a human who was abducted and, through riding with the fairies at night, has learned their great skills.
So how has life been these first 9 days? Short answer: very good!
It doesn't feel like 9 days have passed already... times seems to be flying by, which is - I suppose - a really good thing. At Trinity everything seems to work out just great with the courses, it's only ETH that might not give me credit, but who cares ;-). *** aside: as I passed all the exams, I don't really need the points anyway, but it would certainly help***
I feel at ease here in Dublin:
The weather doesn't bother me too much, just bought a nice coat that is also a bit waterproof and I always carry my umbrella with me... As for the cold - yes it is really really cold here already - nothing many clothes can't take care of. And if the sun comes out, you appreciate it all the more. About the weather and Dubliners... If you walk around the streets feeling really cold, even tough you wear 2 t-shirts, a pullover and a jumper there's unbelievable things you can see... I actually saw a lot of people walking around in flip flop, shorts and t-shirts and there were a couple of women wearing summer dresses, and all this just because the sun was shining a little :-). You really have to admire these Irish people! Or you can think they're crazy ;-). I haven't decided yet.
The people are generally very friendly! I already got to talk to many people of all ages and it was always interesting. What I feel here is that people seem very interested in foreigners, they ask a lot of questions and listen attentively to what you have to tell them. So I am quite in paradise here :-). Also it is very easy to talk to people at university and if you don't know your way everyone seems quite happy to help. Naturally not all is perfect, not even in Ireland ;-). When it comes to getting on the Luas people seem to forget about politeness very fast... But Fionnula told me about a trick she is using to avoid the Luas problem and it's really simple :-). Due to copyright issues I'm not going to say how it works *grin*, but it makes my life soooo much easier.
The language is just cute here. I especially love it if people say things like: "Let's meet at half 3" or "I'm 33 years old"... some of my former English teachers would actually freak out if they would hear it... So I'm thirty-three years old actually sounds like "I'm turty-tree years old"... Yes, they do like their trees here :-). One extremely peculiar thing *very sarcastic* is that they have tons of slang words for drunk here... very funny that is!
The city is just lovable, as long as you don't have to drive in a car - I think. There's some very nice, big parks (haven't been to one of them yet tough), there's nice shopping areas where cars are not allowed and it's pretty much all within walking distance. Also there are many buildings that look very nice. One thing I find is quite extreme here is the number of beggars. There's beggars on every bridge over the Liffey and pretty much on every corner. Also women with babies which I find quite unhealthy for the babies in this weather. But I guess there's beggars in every city and I already got used to "not really seeing them" and walking past.
The traffic doesn't concern me too much, but there's certainly some points worth mentioning. My room goes out to Herberton Road, which is a 2 lane road and cars drive by at all hours of the day. In the beginning it seemed really loud, but I got used to it pretty fast and now I don't even notice it anymore if I don't pay attention. As I pedestrian I lived a little dangerous the first 1 or 2 days... Yes, it is quite weird to suddenly have to look to the - wait gotta think... - right side first when crossing the road! What makes this all the more confusing is that from Abbey Street (the Luas stop I get out) to Trinity College there's loads of one way systems, so the "right first rule" doesn't apply always. Yes, there's traffic lights on every crossing, but they are programmed in a really dumb way! So if you'd actually respect them it would probably take me about 15 minutes instead of 5 to get to TCD. Everyone, yes EVERYONE walks when the light is red. Some are more adventurous than others (or seem to have a death wish) and just run across (or ziczac through the cars) others - like me - have figured out the signal system and know when it's safe to walk. Actually the later hour it is the more couragous or stupid people seem to get *I wonder why...*.
The men are... Lol, if you expect some great analysis of Irish men you are in the wrong place... They are all different, some good looking, some not, some thin, some not, some blond, ... you get the point. And most of them don't have red hair and freckles ;-).
So that's it for today! On Monday uni finally starts... But due to a death of a member of staff from the School of Business I'm only gonna have lessons from 10-11 and from 15-16, so I get to go swimming in-between, yay :-).
Something to make you all jealous: I take 40 KP and I only have: 23 lessons a week and I NEVER start before 10 :-) AND I got Friday morning off completely... Yes this is paradise!
Tell someone that you're gonna study there and they'll give you the same answer all the time: "oh, you must be really clever". Also Trinity is the oldest and probably also the best universtiy of Ireland. In addition the campus is absolutely beautiful and right in the center of town. It is a bit like a little town within Dublin.
So far I've been to pretty much every corner of campus and I've been into a few buildings. Yesterday we had to register in the Examination Hall. It's a really beautiful hall, but the queue was extremely long and when I arrived it was pouring in addition to everything. So I heard there was a breakfast for free somewhere. I went there - had to join the Hist (I'll explain in another blog) to be let in - and then met some nice people and had a great breakfast inside. Afterwards I made my way back and after another hour finaly had my brandnew Student ID card of TCD.
I walked all the way to the other end of campus towards the sportcenter. There I got outside (you know there's only about 5 entrances into TCD) and went to the JCR (Junior Common Room) where I had a free voucher for lunch. Got a great panani, a chocolate bar and a tea. I met some people I had already met at the international welcome reception and we went to check out the Gamer's place (again more in another blog that'll follow).
Next on my "campus-tour" was the sport center. Got my ID registered there as well and went to the swimming pool :-). Yes, we have a swimming pool on campus!!! And it's FREE! So went swimming 40 lanes (aka 1 km) and then I sat into the steam room. Met a guy there, he's name with Luon (however you spell that) and we talked a bit. Then I got changed and walked back to the place where the Phil is. Sat down on the couches, had a cup of coffee and talked with some more people.
Later I got a text from Ida asking me if I wanted to have dinner with her and Verena (these are the two other Unitech girls)... So we walked to Rathmines (which is about 30 minutes). That wouldn't have been a problem, but it was raining, then it was pouring, then the sky seemed to open it's dams... You get the point. Well Ida had no umbrella and she was soaking wet when we got there.
We cooked a great dinner with self made tomato sauce, wholeweat pasta and a salad with green salad, grated carrots, tomato and cucumber.
So that's it for the moment... Here's a map of Trinity:
Well, I can't really hold this off any longer ;-). I seriousely have to write this after having yet another conversation that confirmed my view.
So, in short public transport in Dublin is desastrous, terrible, ridiculousely expensive and well, I could go on and on about it!
I do not even really know where to start ranting about it ;-). I'll give you a quick overview:
There's the Luas (it's a real modern tram) which has two lines that do NOT connect at any point, one is the Red Line the other the Green one. Then theres the Dublin Buses, which to be honest I haven't figured out yet... (more on why later) there's also the Dart (kind of an S-Bahn) and I think that's it. Now to the issues:
They are all run by different companies! There's no ticket for all the services, which completely doesn't make sense.
Each service is absolutely ridiculousely expensive! It's way cheaper in Zurich.
The bus system is really complicated. The map just shows you where the bus will start in the city center. And then it shows where it's going... So you have no clue which street it goes along, you have no clue where there are stops along that line and it's just sort of impossible to figure anything out about them. And I also heard that they are completely unreliable, so people have been waiting for a bus to show up for more than half an hour (apparently a couple of drivers where having a beer).
It's jammers during rush hour... The principle truly is the strongest wins! So people shove each other around and stop being nice for a little.
So I guess these are the main points so far ;-).
What I do to make this situation somehow bearable *lol* is the following: I bought a Luas ticket from Rialto to Abbey Street (Red 2 to Central 1) for 30 days. I pay 41 Euro for a reduced student fare... (I had to buy a student travel card for 15 Euro in order to get the student price, weird, but ok). From Abbey Street I just walk down to Trinity... So from home to Trinity it takes me about 30-40 minutes.
So maybe something positive: The Luas is a real nice tram and it's very modern. If you ride on it outside the rush hour then you can actually sit and watch outside or read a book :-).
And just so you know that I'm not being an arrogant foreigner *lol*, many Dubliners themselves don't have a lot of good things to say about their transport system...
If you wanna have a look:
http://www.luas.ie/
So, I'm quite tired actually and I still gotta do my timetable, which is a bit of a challenge to be honest! Next time I might write about Trinity College or I might also write about the different clubs and societies at TCD.
Today was an awesome day :-). (if you're in a hurry and want to miss out on all the funny details don't read the italic text)
When in town yesterday I was convinced to book a Wild Rover Tour... It sounded great and so I signed up for it.
This morning I got up at 7:20, had breakfast, talked to Fionnula and left for the Luas (more about public transport another time). In the city center I and all the others were picked up by a real nice coach. We drove a bit through Dublin (I think we took the "scenic" route, because if you drew it on a map you'd think there must be a better way of heading out of town than going in "circles"). I learned a lot about the city: ***e.g: South side is more in than North side (with regard to the Liffey - the river that flows through Dublin)... luckily I live on the south side. (actually all the flash people used to live on the North Side a while back and the South Side was mostly green... but then Lord Leinster decided to build a new house south! He said that fashion will move wherever he's going and so it was... today the Leinster House is actually where Parliament meets, if I remeber correctly). Well, enough waffling and back to the actual story...***
So we arrived in Glendalough less than 2 hours later... ***We would've been quicker had it not been for all these bloody cyclists on the mountain road... There was some kind of fundraising biking event going on and had to go REALLY slow nearly all the time (overtaking not often possible due to a narrow road and crazy drivers coming the other way). I would've gone nuts had I been the driver :-). But he was actually pretty cool about it all and we kept on joking.***
In Glendalough I set out towards the Lakes. It was a very nice scenic route, really green and also quite wet, lol! It started to rain couple of times, but it usually stopped again after a bit. It was a nice 1 hour hike there and back and had it not been so bloody freezing and windy it would've been perfect. Back towards town I went to the monastery which is really old and I also had a look at the Round Tower.
Back at the nice and warm coach we set out to Kilkenny over some windy mountain roads ***and through "place" called "the gap"... which is - wait, here it comes!!!! - just a gap in the mountains, yeah, they're very creative those Irish. Apparently a couple of movies have been shot around that area called Wicklow. (e.g. Braveheart, P.S. I love you, Excalibur,...) and Wicklow sheep stew or something like that is supposed to be really nice... Talking about sheep, they were actually jamming the road once ;-) Just like cows in the Swiss Alps! Also we drove through HOLLYWOOD! I'm not kidding! I didn't have time to take a evidence picture, but we drove through it... and it took us about 1 minute ;-). It's a really small village which used to have the name HolyWood (because apparently St Patrick came that way and somehow the forest was not passable but then the trees bent down and he walked through and then they went back up again... or something like that) and over the years someone just made a joke and added an L! *** Somewhere along the way I actually fell asleep and missed out on the great contryside...
Sometime around 2 we arrived at Kilkenny. It's this small medieval (crazy word to spell) town, where all the nice places are really close together. So I was hungry and first went to this lovely cafe just across the street from Kilkenny Castle. I had a nice cappuccino and some - funny, I must add - bread with butter (yeah, it's salted here... ) and jam. Afterwards I made my way in the rain over the street and into the dry castle. Admission was just 2.50Euro for students. I must say, the castle was absolutely beatiful - even tough it has just 3 sides (some bad guy from the other island came over and knocked down one side of it.... I forgot why). It's in a very good shape and you can see the place as it used to be. There's also a lot of pictures and a huge library. The people working there where really friendly and I talked quite a bit with some of them!
After the visit I set out down this long street... Parliament street I think and checked out some more places. Most memorable of all was - in my opinion - the black abbey. The church windows are absolutely stunning! Also they have funny coffins outside, they're empty luckily... After that I walked to the Saint Canices Cathedral and I walked inside... LOL, they were taking wedding pictures and so I backed out quickly. Just as I walked out 2 girls wanted to go in... I started talking with them... They were french, Margot (maggie) and Charlotte. They were planning on going to jerpoint abbey and were in kilkenny with their own car. So they asked me if I wanted to come along. After informing my tour-guides I went with them.
The drive to Jerpoint Abbey was faily short and we arrived at 4.45 pm, just 15 minutes before they close. The abbey was pretty small, but still nice to have a look at. The roof of the cathedral was taken off by some other guy from over the other island and so we would have been standing in the rain had it been raining (lol, is this even correct English?), but luckily it stopped raining for a bit. After that we drove back to Dublin.
*** Heading into Dublin we actually pretty much passed the place where I live, but I didn't recognize it... Yeah, embarrassing, but I'd only been there once in a car with Kilian. So Margot let us out somewhere in the center and Charlotte and me where waiting at the bus stop. Number 122 came along and I asked the bus driver if he was going anywhere close to Herberton Road... Well, turn out we were going close to Herberton Drive, which is luckily not tooooo far from where I live. So I made it home safely :-). ***
All in all it had been a great day, I drove through at least 5 counties today: Dublin, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Carlow and Kildare (and maybe also Laois, not sure tough) and learnt a lot about the history of Ireland, religion (really interesting... have a close look at Irish crosses... their quite different from swiss ones for example) and also got to meet many new people!
What a day :-) I walked and walked and walked ;-). So first Iw alked to town, on the way I bumped into St Patrick's church. I went into the garden their and it started getting quite cold,so I went inside,paid and started checking out the church. I even got to see the choir (it's closed to public) because I got talking with one of the people there. Afterwards I headed toward Trinity, but I did some other stuff first (eat, tourist info,...). Then I went onto the Trinity grounds. It's really nice, in the middle of town, but quite calm (except for all the tourists, lol). I also bought al...l the things I didn't take with me on purpose or that I forgot. Now I'm back in Rialto (that's the area I live in) really tired.
Tomorrow I booked a tour... Gotta be in the city center at 8:45 and we'll head out to Kilkenny and then go to Glendalough, both quite famous and supposedely worth a visit. So that's it for now :-).
The plane landed at about 10:45 and it was actually really sunny. So I arrived at 12:30 at Fionnula's house and Kilian, her brother, was here to welcome me :-). We talked an then headed to town (I got an irish sim card) and then to the beac...h. We walked out into the sand and it went from sunny to raining within minutes :-). We were singing and laughing and the wind also picked up quite a bit, so the umbrella wasn't much use. Back at the car it had already stopped raining and the sun started coming out again. Back home I met Fionnula and started unpacking. The house is really nice, it's quite old, 1930ies I think, but it's really lovely :-). My room is on the first floor and quite big. So, I guess that's it for the moment. :-)
By the way... you can text me anytime on my swiss number! I'm still using it!
