The Big Catch Up Post

Long time no see. This is what happens when i get busy. The last 3 weeks and weekends have been a blur, because of two 3-day trips and a gigantic Philosophy paper which required tens of hours of work.

Here's what transpired on the Telford Trip:

I just couldn’t sleep on the Thursday night before we left. I was excited about the trip. So at about 3:50, my alarm goes off. I get my things together and meet matt downstairs. We start walking over to UCC. If I haven’t mentioned it yet, I really enjoy walking around Cork in the wee hours. Theres no people. We saw a few RAG week partiers still active. We got to UCC and caught a cab with Paddy and an Asian girl. The cab driver was funny, swore a lot, and kept telling us stories about people that tried to run off without paying. This one guy ran off, and ran straight into a cop car, and then tried to get into his house. We got to the airport and met the rest of the 17 scifiers for this trip. Ross and Dee, Sean and Cliodha, Yan and Yan's woman, the 3 asians, Paddy, Sean o Connell, Cal, JC and Katrina, and Mark. We waited around, then went through check in. I had liquids there but didn’t even get searched. The European airport security is so lax. We got on the plane, and it was very rickety. They played classical music before we flew. We took off, and the sun rose over the clouds. It was beautiful, but I didn’t get a chance to use my camera. I sat next to and talked to Dee on the plane.

We landed in Birmingham international airport. We got lost inside and most people ate food at this crappy expensive place. Matt and I just waited, we knew that we would be going to the grocery store soon. We got on the train and headed to Telford. The guy who checked our tickets had extremely bad and yellowed teeth. It was awesome. The train ride took us through areas that looked like they went through an apocalypse. It was very dingy in places, and in other places they had british cookie cutter villages, which were like ours except the houses were red brick and Victorian style with the steep roofs. We went past this graffitied up place and Paddy said “Telford: the place that God forgot”. It was hilarious. So we pull into Telford and go to the shopping center. It is just like America. Seriously, it had staples, mcdonalds, burger king, and other American things. The only difference was the pound sign graced the price boards. We went to ASDA and bought a bunch of cool Pringles flavors. I got Roasted Ribs, Thai Curry, and Prawn cocktail. Matt got xtreme jalapeno or something. We got bread too, with Paddy. The Pringles were one pound each. I felt bad for Brandon being in Belfast.

We then started for the hotel. We walked past all of this construction, and saw what looked like a girl kicking a guy in the nuts on the Telford Ice Rink sign. It was funny. We passed a place called mecca. We were talking about paying for school, and ross said that people usually don’t pay more than a thousand euro to go to school. Its paid for by the state. I thought this was extremely interesting, as we had to pay like 30 grand to go on the frickin study abroad.

We got in and checked into the hotel room. Paddy was in a room with Matt and I. The hotel was really nice! There was like a huge lobby and a nice bar, and the rooms were nice. Room 44 was bought as a common room where we could all go and watch stuff. We dropped off our stuff, and I asked the lady at the front desk how to get to the Wrekin. He said it was a 5 mile walk, and that I should get a taxi. But he was really nice, and printed me directions! I figured we would walk there on Sunday after Shrewsbury. We went into room 44 and started to watch some shows.The room got really stuffy and the beds got packed with all of us nerds in it. Paddy fell asleep and snored, and ended up falling off the bed. It was extremely funny. 

We went to dinner at this restaurant called Whetherspoon’s. I felt really under dressed. It was like half bar, half restaurant. The food smelled good. This short guy took our orders, and we had to go to the counter to order. I sat by Matt, Dee, Ross, and Paddy for dinner. Matt and I got the Moroccan meatballs and couscous, which was heavenly! It was like the best tasting thing ever. The meatballs were lamb, and the sauce was spicy and good. And it was only 6.30 pound. Damn pounds. Then, we got desert, of a Belgian waffle. It tasted really cooked and very well done.

We were told that the con was going to start at 11 and the tickets were going to be fetched at 9 by mark and sean. Well at 10 on Saturday, breakfast consisted of Pringles and bread, and a rhubarb pie I bought at ASDA. We wait for Dee and Ross and then make our way towards the convention. I see a bunch of cars, and then some costumes! Oh boy! We get in and there is a huge queue (line) filled with hundreds of people! About half of the people are cosplayers. We flashed the guards our tickets and headed into the main area.

The convention was set up with a giant stage on one end, a robot fighting area in the corner, the 3ds booth and the other Nintendo areas were blocks in the middle, the cosplayers had a changing room area, and the rest was made up of booths and stands where anime esque things were being sold. There were also areas where people were playing card games, signing up for WoW, and generally being nerdy. The first thing I did was go park myself in the line for the 3DS. I figured it was about to get extremely packed, and sure enough I was right. I was waiting beind some cosplayers and I saw the guards of the convention, dressed up as stormtroopers. One of them saw my camera and posed a bit. I hope they are better at aiming in real life. The booth babes were walking around, attached to the games. One offered me resident evil and I declined. I wanted some Zelda action. After 10 or so minutes, I made it to the front of the queue, and was let in by the babe. I saw some guys playing Zelda in the corner, but it was busy. I thought, damn. I went to the first open 3ds and played some stupid game where you shoot a floating image of your face with laser beams. But then I saw one open on the other side! I went over and asked the girl “Is this Zelda??” and it was. I played the deku tree stage. Man, the graphics were great. The 3d was realistic! It was great. 

I walked around and took many many pictures of the nerds, the stuff being sold, and the cosplayers. I didn’t ask too many people to pose, but I did track down a Link cosplayer and ask him. The room was beginning to get packed, and it started to smell of body odor. Badly. I went and watched the robots fighting for a while, it was cool. I went over and played Pokemon Black and White, and played a battle against smugleaf. It was great. I took illegal pictures of the battle, because we are not allowed to do that to pre released games. I heard someone say earlier to not take pictures near the screens. Later on Matt and i were looking at some cards he bought, and this fat smelly guy comes up and asks what cards we got. Damn he smelled. He was in a really feminine costume. His nerd voice meshed nicely with his British accent, and bad teeth. He told us about getting some rare shiny cards or whatever and then left. I thought it was creepy and funny.

We then went for lunch at about 2 something. We went to the overpriced café on the outside of the arena. The cosplayers were all taking a break. I found the other link cosplayer and took a picture of her. I ate a mars bar and it was like a crappier snickers bar. Then Mark and I went and played Kirby’s epic yarn. It was fun. But I was itching to do something. Something illegal. I went back to the 3DS booth and had my camera slung around my neck. I put it on movie mode. I slipped over to the Zelda area, and started playing the game. I made sure the lens was on 18mm, and angled the ds correctly. I pressed the button, and started fighting Gohma. I had to discreetley make sure the lady did not see me messing with the buttons, or else I could get the camera confiscated for taking illegal footage. I looked at the screen and it wasn’t recording!! Luckily, the lady had to bend over and pick something up. I seized the moment and pressed record. It worked, and they didn’t catch me! So I used the nate method of fighting gohma and sacked her with deku nuts. I had to move the DS once in a while so that it wasn’t completely obvious that the camera lens was pointed directly at the screen. I beat the boss, and it said thank you for playing. I put it down and left the booth. I looked at the video and sure enough, I got the whole thing covered! The video was shaky and unfocused at points, but I enjoyed the fact of sneaking footage.

I left the con, tried to find the others, and tried to get back in. a guy in a wheel chair wouldn’t let me in and said the con was closed. We went back to the apartment and then went to dinner. Same place. Tonight, matt and I got the British Beef and Abbot Ale Pie. It was really good. It was flaky, and had Mushy peas. I talked to JC, one of the club leaders. She lives by ballycotton, and said that this winter was the first winter ever that she saw snow. She said even if the rest of the island is covered, she never gets snow, being 500 feet away from the salt water of the Atlantic ocean. But they got 2 feet of snow and she was snowed in for 3 weeks. She said she loves the snow.  Then we went to the bowling alley. I played pool against sean and lost because I hit the black one in and the cue followed. We hung around and then went back and went to bed. 

 

On Sunday, 5 of us went to the nearby village of Shrewsbury, an expidition planned out by yours truly. It was very very cold in the train station. We were standing around for a while, and then the train got delayed. Our 1pm train was delayed. Apparently there was an obstacle in the track. Well the delay soon turned to cancellation. We were debating whether to continue. But I didn’t want to not go. We waited for the 1334 train and hopped on. It was like a 30 minute ride, and there were signs on the train in Welsh and English. Apparently, we were getting close to the welsh border. We got off at the station, and I thought that since we wanted to catch the 330 train back  and have dinner with the crew, we should go asap and see the stuff. I became bold, and went over to the tourist office. I asked one of the people in uniform if they knew of the ruins nearby or stuff to do in Shrewsbury. He was a middle aged British man with bad teeth and short hair. He said that he didn’t know much about it because he isn’t a native, but his friend Spencer had lived in the town his whole life. So he told me to follow him. We walked all around the platform. I had my camera around my neck so I looked like a total tourist. We found Spencer, an old man in an old man hat. He told me to have fun, and that the ruins were far away. But the castle was right there, and if I walked north I would find the monastery. I looked and the castle literally was right there. I thanked him and walked off. I was proud of myself for taking the initiative, and wound up talking to old British guys!

We stepped off the train station into Shrewsbury and I was in love. The buildings were framework, and the chimneys were old. The train station itself looked like something out of Harry potter. It also looked like the UCC quad. So we started walking up the hill, and I saw one of the red English telephone booths! I squealed. We then went over by the castle. Unfortunately it was closed. This bum came up and offered me some matches and I said no and kept walking. Then he put his arm around Ross and offered to put the matches in his pocket. Ross said no, and the bum told him to fuck off and burn in hell. He swore more, and then took a shit behind a statue in the yard. His dog probably ate it.

We walked down the streets more, taking pictures, and talking about Ross and Dee’s trip to America and the differences between Midwesterners and east coasters. We saw cool pubs, british people, and Swans. I kept following the signs towards to abbey. Ross kept trying to photobomb my pictures. We got to this bridge, and I tried to take pictures of some swans. They were freaking huge. We walked to the Abbey and it was really cool, we walked around but there was a singing service going on at 3, and I didn’t wanna be taking pictures. We then made our way back to the train station. We got on the train, and a family of annoying British kids started swearing.

We got back and went to the mall, and stopped by a videogame store. It had a huge Link statue in it! I asked the guy “How much for it” and he said it is not for sale. He said it is very rare, and worth about 7000 pounds. Some kids broke the arm though, so it hangs down. But it was so cool.

Dinner was fun. Tonights main course was the best of all. It was a delectable, juicy, scrumptious shoulder of lamb. It was beyond words. We had a chill rest of the night and then got ready to leave on Monday. On Monday we got on the plane and came back to Cork. I spent the whole ride trying to take an awesome picture of the propeller at 1/6000 shutter speed. it eventually worked, but since i am busy, nobody gets to see it yet. 

Now the next weekend featured a trip to Gougane Barra, which would be a sweet name if it was pronounced like gouge (with a knife) and Bar (like bar stool). But it is Goo-gin Bear-a, and so i was disappoint. I had always wanted to go here since September, when i found a desktop background of this place. So on Saturday morning I took a tesco donut and put it, with a sandwhich , in the butter container that is my Tupperware. Then, I met up with mattie, skippy, matt, and Hannah and went down to the iona building.  We got there and it was awesome! There were like 20 people going on this trip! Woohoo! No damn girls and their poses. Thank goodness. We got on the bus and matt sat next to me. We had a good conversation the whole ride, about video games, life, and Pogge. It always came back to Pogge. We laughed about that. Pogge is like a meme amongst our group. The Z claw made an appearance as usual. We had this old tour guide lady who played cassettes of irish music. I recongnized many songs, because I played them in whistle and accordion. She talked about leaving a part of you at the holy site, like a hair, and being in touch with nature.

We got to Gougane barra and passed the chapel on the lake. I was like Yes!! Here it is!! We went to the forested area and walked on the nature trail. It was really nice, and there were high mountains all around. I really want to go back there in may or something and hike up the mountains. We walked up to this area. There were streams and pine trees everywhere. The trail was nice, and the Lee flowed right beside, about 10 feet thick at most. I was getting my exercise because I would run for a while, take a picture, and then run to catch up with the group. I did this the whole way over there. I was sweaty when we got to the high part.

Then we walked back to the bus and went to the chapel. Whoa. It was so cool. Dudley said a few words. He said that the monks came over here to build a monstery, so they could appreciate the glory of God. “And what better place” Dudley said as he waved his hand over towards the mountains. I broke the silence and said…yeah… and everyone chuckled. We had only ten minutes, so the race was on to go take pictures of all the stuff. I wanted to get my desktop background picture, but the reflection was nonexistent, so I had to make do with other poses. The view was amazing, to say the least.

Then we went into this town, and I could see the windmills we saw on the paps and Caherbarnagh hikes! I could even see the paps themselves as we were driving. It was really cool. I really like the paps. We ate chips at this hotel because the family run restaurant was very overpriced. Then we walked around this little no name town.

We got on the bus later and went to this remote site called Balleyvourney. St. Gobnait has a statue here, and it’s a holy site. St. Gobnait was said to have been protected by a swarm of bees that would sting the enemies. We made the rounds, looked at the stone house, dodged raindrops, and then went to the church. The tour guide lady made us listen to a song by Sean O’reirda when we stood by his grave. The rain was gently coming down, and it made for a nice scene. Then we went back.

Then the week following this, as in the first week of March, was spent writing Pogge. When we turned it in to the Fach (Dr. Bufacchi) on Thursday, it was the best feeling ever. 

Most Recent Weekend: Dingle(berry) 

But I am tired so you don't get to hear about that.

Jameson Distillery

So on the 2nd weekend of February, Brandon, our fellow SJUer, came down from Belfast to visit us in Cork! I like Brandon a bunch, and was excited to hang out with him. He ended up having to stay a night in Dublin on the way down, because the bus system doesnt run a bus to cork after 18:00. On Saturday, he ended up getting there when the rest of us were eating our irish traditional breakfast! It was really good. it involved black pudding and white pudding, where were little loafs of blood and meat. They had the texture of pork rinds crushed up in crusty ground beef, and they were delicious! Then, we hopped on a train to Midleton to go to the Jameson distillery. We got there and it was amazing! There was whiskey everywhere! we got a tour of the facility, which was now a museum because the distilling takes place in a new factory down the road. But the building was so cool. it had windows that let the smoke out, grain elevators, and 45,000 gallon tanks where the undistilled liquid, which is basicallly beer, is stored. Previously we had to to watch a video of the history of Jameson. It was like a documentary from the history channel, where they focus on like a tap or a pipe or the guys feet because the actor in the 18th century suit looks nothing like John Jameson, the founder. Apparently, Jameson whisky is distilled 3 times. So we got to the part of the tour where we saw the giant distilling vats, which are the biggest in the world. They are made of copper and like 30 feet tall. Unfortunatley they were too big for a picture! At the end of the tour we got a complimentary shot of Jameson! Some lucky people also got to do a taste test of 3 different kinds of whiskey- Scotch, Jack Daniels, and Jameson, to compare the flavors. After the tour, we walked around Midleton. I found a hat that said Ballycotton Lifeboat and it had a picture of the boat! Heck yeah! Too bad it is a childs hat. i think i will have mattie sew it onto a bigger hat. Best Souvenir ever.
We took the bus back to Leeside, and then made feast! Then we went to the Fran Well for beerfest. They had all sorts of beers from brewerys around ireland. I tried the Raven Black, a 6.5% stout that is the big brother to Beamish and Guinness and Murphy's, the readheaded stepchilld of stouts. I don't like Murphys. This drunk guy came up and talked to all of us, and kept repeating himself. he kept saying "all i wanna say is....welcome.....welcome to my country....welcome to my city!" and then he would go down the line and shake all of our hands. He did this nine times. I counted. Then we hung out in Leeside! We threw rotten potatoes and moldy bread in the Lee. 
Brandon and his friend justin who came with him but i forgot to mention said they were going to Blarney the next day, which i thought was a bold thing to do, considering they wanted to go with 4 hours of sleep. But we all slept in, and the two of them took the bus back up to Belfast. It was really fun seeing Brandon, becasue he is the only friend from the states that i will be seeing until June. It was like having a part of home come to visit!

I just got back from england, and have to go to class. but eventually, i will be posting here!
Topics to be covered:

Jameson Distillery and Brandon Down's visit to Cork
The Scifi trip to England
Minnesota Night.

Sorry about the delays. I am busy, even with no homework! Stay tuned.

The Rain of Kerry - Day 3

Sunday, The Final Day, of the RoK trip. We were told that we were supposed to report down to the bus at about 9:15 today instead of 930 like yesterday. I used the time to shove all of my still sopping shirts, underwear, gloves, waterproof pants, socks, and shorts into the CSB campus ministry bag that was about to get extremely moldy. Thanks to the questionable-looking hairdryer, my shoes were dry-ish, but i could sense the mold creeping in. Enough about mold. We ate breakfast, and I had some more runny eggs and bacon strips. But after breakfast, instead of going to the bus, Marian told us to go to the room where we heard the speakers. We get there and then there is this lady who looks like a nursing home nurse, and she is supposed to teach us to sing. I did not like this, because I hate singing. She gave us a song sheet, and told us to sing this "Galway Girl" song about hooking up, and then a nursery rhyme in Gaelic about a little girl that wants to go to the market but the mom says no. Then we got handed these art straw things and taught how to make Saint Bridgett crosses. It was kind of fun, yet I felt like I was in kindergarten all over again. i measured out the sides of the cross using the damn song sheet and Hannah and Matt thought it was funny. I made mine red and white to spite Morrison.

After a grueling hour of this substitute activity (for walking to the forts. They usually walk to the forts. Marian thought the weather was bad), We got on the bus and headed out to the forts. I decided to wear jeans because I figured it had stopped raining. We got to see a non-foggy cahersiveen today. It was really nice. Mount Bentree loomed behind the quaint village, and we could see hills across the sea. We drove for about 5 minutes and got out, to walk a trail up to the fort. It was awesome! Marian said it is a natural amphitheater, and it sure looked like it. There was a small stone ring in the middle and the larger ring circled the outside of the enclosure. I was all set to take some amazing pictures, when all the damn girls started climbing all over the damn fort, doing their poses for Facebook pictures. So I busied myself looking at the grass and rocks up close and snapping them. I waited until they were all leaving, and picked a nice spot up on top to stand up on. Marian was waiting by the exit and herding everyone out. I stood my ground and waited till all the other people were gone, and then snapped awesome pictures. Marian was not mad about this at all. I walked with her the 500 meters to the next fort, and we talked about small towns. I told her that the same thing that is going on in Ireland is going on in the states, where rural areas are dying out thanks to no jobs. I told her that my town had 8,000 people and she said “That would be a pretty big town over here! Cahersiveen has like 600 people” I thought about the towns in America that have 600 people= Bovey, Hill City, Murdo, Taconite. They are all drug ridden dumps. Cahersiveen is pretty, clean, and nice. 

So then we got to the second fort. The Journalism major that sat by me on the bus yesterday thought she saw a fox. I was excited. But it was a mere hare. It ran away, and kicked up a pheasant! Cool! I finally made it to the fort, after everyone was in. this fort was really really cool. There were actual places that wooden beams would have gone in holes in the walls to hold up stables or buildings. I took my close ups, and, once again, I waited for everyone to leave. Marian was yelling hurry up. I stood my ground and she said “I know what you want to do”. We saw some sheep on the way back that were nuzzling each other with their faces, and every damn camera was taking pictures of them. Marian said they were a breed that was imported to Ireland, and so they were coined Fake sheep. But they were bigger and some though better looking than the other real sheep. But they were dirtier.

Then we got en route to Daniel O’connels house, which was also specially opened for us. It was cool, and the tour guide was boring. We watched a History Channel type video about Daniel O Connell, and the first time his face popped up, everyone giggled. The guy was ugly as sin. They kept doing the history channel thing where they pan away from his portraits, and I kept giggling. He married his cousin, who was also ugly, and they popped out 11 babies. The portrait showed his wife, and a ginger baby. The video was about his life but all I could think about was how damn ugly he was. We got out of the video and went to his living room, where we heard about his hunting dogs that got rabbits all of the time, on the hunts. We did get to see his chariot though, and it was cool! It was velvet with like gilded sides. I am sure it wasn't real gold though, because there were no alarms on the doors to his garage. 

So we headed off for home, then. We drove through very beautiful parts of the country, but Marian was looking for a volunteer to sing. So eventually Connor, the guy who was drunk, came up and took over the microphone. He sat on there for like a damn hour taking requests like taylor swift and other pop songs, and singing it loudly and terribly. Hannah and Matt put headphones in to drown him out. He did say some funny stuff though, like “And on your right, you will see sheep. The largest flock in Ireland.” And “A baby seal walks into a club”. We drove, and drove, and passed by large tracts of woodlands, pines that looked like they could have been white pines, and bogs. Kerry as a county is rural, remote, and gorgeous. Very brown. But I suppose it is winter. There are mountains all over the place. Its beautiful. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to stop and take pictures until we got to Killarney national park. We got to stop at this place apparently called Moll’s Gap, and take pictures. It was nice, but I don’t think my pictures turned out. We then took a vote on going shopping or seeing a waterfall. I was thinking "we better not choose shopping", and luckily we didn’t. We stopped the bus, and walked up this trail to the falls. It was huge, roaring, and awesome. And it was pouring rain on us, but I used my poor camera anyways.

Then we got back. And that is the end of the Ring of Kerry Heritage Weekend. It was fun, but i really wish the weather would have cooperated a little bit more.